30 March 2006
The UK's largest energy suppliers have called on the government to help change consumer behaviour in order to help prevent climate change.
The plea from the Energy Retail Association (ERA) follows the recent announcement from the government that it looks set to miss its self-imposed target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010.
Over the last three years the association said that its members had spent £800 million on energy efficiency measures, cutting carbon emissions by 15.5 million tonnes in the process.
A further £1.2 billion is expected to be spent by the industry over the next three years on energy efficiency measures in UK households.
"It's crucial that people wake up to the fact that energy is a precious resource and the era of cheap energy is coming to an end," said Duncan Sedgwick, chief executive of the industry body.
"We all need to do our bit to make people more 'energy aware' while providing accessible information and services that make it easy for people to reduce their energy consumption."
The ERA was set up in October 2003 and represents British Gas, EDF Energy, Powergen, RWE npower, Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Electric.
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