NEA is pleased to respond to this open consultation on a new Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat, providing our thoughts and suggested amendments on each of the following proposed priorities.

NEA welcomes the extension and expansion of the ECO scheme until at least April 2026 and fully supports the consultation’s continued, critical focus on low-income and vulnerable households and greater support for deeper retrofits for the least energy efficient homes.

NEA’s Response to the BEIS Consultation on the Warm Home Discount Scheme 2022-26.

NEA is pleased to respond to this open consultation on the proposed changes to the guidelines for water companies in supporting residential customers to pay their bill, access help and repay debts.

NEA is pleased to respond to this open consultation on the vision for the next water price review, PR24, highlighting opportunities to strengthen the vision around customer affordability and vulnerability.

NEA welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs ‘Call for Evidence and views on the Climate Change Bill’. In principle NEA believe that Northern Ireland has a responsibility to contribute equitably to reducing the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to achieve the UK Net Zero targets.

For many households, the cost of energy has relatively little impact on how much energy is used in the home. However, for households living on a low income, energy usage makes up a significant portion of the household expenditure. Northern Ireland continues to have amongst the lowest levels of household income across the UK and the highest weekly household expenditure on energy of any UK region. Taken in conjunction with challenging economic conditions as well as the ongoing global pandemic, many families continue to face challenges with meeting their energy costs.

This research study has been completed with the support of Smart Energy GB to evaluate the potential benefits of smart prepayment, investigate remaining barriers that are preventing further uptake and consider a range of potential interventions to maximise the rollout of smart prepayment in the remaining years of the rollout.

This strategy will impact upon every energy commodity in Northern Ireland from power station, to building, to vehicle. However, as a fuel poverty and energy efficiency campaigning charity, NEA NI will be specifically focussing on the key considerations for domestic housing stock and low-income householders.