As prices rise and the UK Government considers energy bill help once again, a new study warns that the country's approach to energy support is structurally geared towards short-term crisis response rather than long-term solutions.
support often arrives too late and mostly functions as a stopgap
Minna Sunikka-Blank
A Cambridge-led study, published in Environmental Policy and Governance, traces the evolution of British energy policy support since World War II up to reforms announced in 2025. It highlights a clear shift away from broad-based and preventive approaches, such as large-scale energy efficiency programmes, towards narrowly targeted measures that compensate households only after energy costs increase.
"The key question is not just who receives support, but why policy so often reacts rather than prevents," says Tijn Croon, a Visiting Fellow at Cambridge's Department of Architecture from TU Delft. "We find that this is not accidental: it reflects deeper political and institutional dynamics that consistently favour short-term, visible interventions over long-term investment."
Recent decades reveal a recurring pattern, the researchers argue. During crises, governments introduce broad, often universal support and promise large-scale green investment, but this is typically short-lived. As pressures ease, policy shifts back towards narrowly targeted schemes, largely delivered through energy supplier obligations, leaving many households outside support despite ongoing energy affordability challenges.
The study suggests that this pattern is driven by political economy factors. Preventive policies such as home insulation require upfront investment and deliver benefits over longer time horizons, making them less attractive within short electoral cycles. In contrast, compensatory measures like energy bill support provide immediate, visible relief.
"What we see is a system that increasingly responds to crises rather than reducing vulnerability in advance," says Minna Sunikka-Blank, Professor of Architecture and Environmental Policy at Cambridge and a Fellow of Churchill College. "This means support often arrives too late and mostly functions as a stopgap."
The study points out that in the 1970s and 1980s, the UK was a global leader in energy efficiency, launching the world's first dedicated Energy Efficiency Office, nationwide awareness campaigns, and coordinated government support for households and industry. In stark contrast, it argues, the UK today "is one of the few high-income European countries without a comprehensive, universally accessible scheme for retrofitting grants or loans that goes beyond heating system replacement.
"Instead, it relies on a fragmented patchwork of policies, mostly financed through consumer levies and limited to low-income households, despite an ageing and relatively inefficient housing stock and the pressing challenges of climate change and the cost-of-living crisis."
Dr Ray Galvin, from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) says: "Without stronger investment in preventive measures like energy efficiency, on-site renewables, and low-carbon heating systems, governments risk repeatedly facing the same affordability crises. Short-term relief may be necessary, but it cannot substitute for structural solutions."
The findings are particularly relevant in the current context of rising energy prices, where governments once again face pressure to intervene quickly. The authors warn that relying primarily on compensation risks entrenching a recurring cycle of crisis response.
While recent government commitments, such as the expansion of the Warm Homes Programme, signal a renewed focus on energy efficiency, the study argues that current plans remain insufficient in scale and ambition to fundamentally shift this trajectory.
To break this pattern, the authors call for a rethinking of how energy policy is evaluated and funded. They also suggest that framing energy affordability as a social right, such as a right to a warm and comfortable home, could help anchor more long-term policy approaches.
Reference
T. M. Croon, M. G. Elsinga, J. S. C. M. Hoekstra, M. Sunikka-Blank, R. Galvin, 'For the Few, Not the Many: Tracing the Residualist and Compensatory Nature of British Energy Support', Environmental Policy and Governance (2026). DOI: 10.1002/eet.70067
