article: The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) confirms that bills and emissions have been forced down since 2008 by EU energy efficiency rules. Appliances like fridges, freezers and boilers are now designed to use less energy for the same work. Ministers say they will make new energy efficiency policy in the Autumn. But the government's critics point out that its Clean Growth plan for an efficient low-carbon society is already many months behind schedule. The CCC says the UK must shift much more swiftly towards electric cars to reduce carbon and tackle local air pollution. It also says a strategy is urgently needed to insulate millions of homes and create new forms of heating that don't foul the air or crank up climate change. The report's finding on home energy bills will surprise people amidst allegations of energy company profiteering and fears that many households find energy prices too high. It confirms that although the cost per unit of electricity and gas has indeed risen, household bills have fallen thanks to EU and UK efficiency standards which forced engineers to design appliances that use less energy. It says since 2008, when the Climate Change Act was introduced, electricity demand is down 17% (despite all our gadgets) and gas demand is 23% lower, thanks to better insulation and UK rules on improved boilers. The CCC chair Lord Deben told BBC News: "Really good EU regulations have made all our appliances much more efficient. It's meant we've been able to cut bills by about Â£20 a month for the average consumer. "It's been a remarkable success story. But the crucial thing is we've got to keep on doing it." It is not yet clear how the UK will be affected by future EU efficiency rules, although it will be impossible for UK manufacturers to sell inefficient goods into the EU market. Catherine Mitchell, professor of energy at Exeter University, told BBC News: "I don't think most people have any idea about the positive role EU standards play in our appliances in our houses - and have done for the last 25 years, or so. "They have brought down bills considerably, they have brought down carbon emissions and they have stimulated innovation. It would be quite mad to get rid of them when we leave the EU." Meanwhile, the CCC says the government's carbon cutting policies are already off track to meet its obligation under the Climate Change Act to cut emissions of 57% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels. The CCC wants: more low-carbon electricity through the 2020s; faster uptake of electric vehicles; a strategy for deploying the carbon capture and storage technology (still very expensive); and a strategy for the uptake of low-carbon heat, perhaps by switching from natural gas to hydrogen for home heating. The new climate change minister Claire Perry told Parliament that she wanted to see if the government's embryonic Clean Growth plan could be made more ambitious. She promised to bring forward policies in the Autumn. But green groups question the government's sincerity. They say that in a meeting of
summary: Household energy bills and carbon emissions will rise unless ministers devise new policies to save power, a report says.