Audit Office finds ‘significant flaws’ in implementation of energy strategy | UK News

There are “significant flaws” in the Department for the Economy’s implementation of its own energy strategy, a report has found.

So far £107m has been spent on the strategy to deliver net zero and affordable energy, but the Northern Ireland Audit Office has found a “very significant risk” that two of its three key targets – to be met by 2030 – will be missed.

Auditors said they were unable to conclude that the spend represented good value for public money.

The Department for the Economy said it remained committed to achieving the targets set in the strategy.

The report found the department had achieved just 1% of the energy savings identified as one of its key targets, while other key metrics were not measured for years.

The energy strategy was published in 2021 to comply with UK-wide requirements to reduce emissions.

It aimed to help deliver net-zero and ensure affordable energy for businesses and consumers.

Just 1% of the targeted energy saving from buildings and industry has been achieved since the strategy launched, while the target for electricity from renewable sources currently faces a 35% shortfall.

Governance is another key issue in the report.

The energy strategy oversight group, made up of officials from a number of departments, came in for criticism for failing to track the strategy’s progress against its targets.

The Audit Office found the strategy had been running for almost three years before any attempt was made to measure progress against key targets.

Of the £107m, about £85m has been spent on capital projects, while the remaining £22m has been paid in departmental staffing costs since development began in 2020.

The Audit Office also found that a lack of clarity about actions being taken, with insufficient planning and excessive consultations, had generated confusion as to which projects were being taken forward.

A scheme to improve energy efficiency in businesses was announced, consulted on, then abandoned, as was a “one-stop shop” for information on how to decarbonise energy supply.

Comptroller and auditor general Dorinnia Carville told News NI there were “significant flaws” in the action plans.

“We raised concerns that from year to year there were actions which… effectively disappeared from view,” she said.

“We also highlight in the report that in some cases of approved action plans, decisions were taken by senior officers within the department that those actions wouldn’t be delivered and there was no overall accountability mechanism.”

The Audit Office report also picked up on the department’s fondness for public consultation.

In 2024, more than half of the strategy’s actions involved public consultation, with the auditor noting that the frequency of these and the approach taken risked jeopardising their effectiveness.

The Department for the Economy said it would work to swiftly implement the report’s recommendations

It added that a mid-term review of the strategy was ongoing and aims to be published by the end of 2025.