Heating at Buckingham Palace turned down to cut emissions and save money
The heating at Buckingham Palace and other royal homes has been turned down to cut emissions, royal accounts have shown.
The royal family, as well as their staff and guests, were living with temperatures set at 19C during the winter.
Rooms were kept at 16C when empty according to the accounts of the Sovereign Grant, which is funded by the taxpayer.
Net expenditure increased by £5.1m, or 5%, to £107.5 million for 2022-23, which royal aides said was due to the change of monarchs, inflation and the continued costs of Buckingham Palace’s reservicing programme – the 10-year project to update the electrical cabling, plumbing and heating.
The Sovereign Grant remained unchanged at £86.3m during 2022-23.
Funding of the King’s official duties and his household costs £51.8m – equivalent to 77p per person in the UK – while £34.5m pays for ongoing reservicing costs for the palace.
Payroll costs were one of the biggest annual increases of any expenditure during 2022-23, rising £3.4m to £27.1m, with staff given a pay rise of about 5% to 6%.
The number of staff also increased to pre-pandemic levels as royal activities picked up after the lockdowns.
But the royal household failed to meet its diversity target of drawing 10% of its workforce from ethnic minorities, with the 2023 figure of 9.7% the same as last year.
The cost of royal travel was down by £600,000 to £3.9m. Spending on 179 helicopter flights topped £1m.
The most expensive trip was the King and Queen’s visit to Rwanda in June last year, and a separate staff planning visit, to attend a Commonwealth leaders’ summit, costing £186,571.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson also confirmed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had moved out of Frogmore Cottage.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Royal Ascot this month
But the spokesperson would not confirm the next tenant after reports claimed Prince Andrew is resisting a downsizing move from his Royal Lodge home to Harry and Meghan’s former home.
‘A year of grief, change and celebration’
The report showed £1.6m was spent on the Queen’s funeral which included paying for engagements at Buckingham Palace and staff costs and travel, a palace spokesperson said.
A further £700,000 was spent by the royal household on the Platinum Jubilee.
Separate financial information relating to the Prince of Wales was also released, showing William received a private income of nearly £6m from the Duchy of Cornwall.
Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said the past 12 months had been “a year of grief, change and celebration, the like of which our nation has not witnessed for seven decades”.
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He added: “These past 12 months have taken us from the Platinum Jubilee in the summer of last year, to the sadness of the death of Queen Elizabeth and the accession of our new sovereign in the autumn, via an incoming and outgoing state visit and many months of work in preparation for the coronation of their majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla in the spring of this year.”
But Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, which campaigns for an elected head of state, criticised the rise in royal expenditure as the country experienced a cost-of-living crisis.
He said: “Charles has suggested he’s concerned about, and aware of, the cost-of-living crisis and yet he seems completely oblivious to his need to reduce costs and they continue to go up and up, whilst public services are being squeezed.
“Really they should be slashing the budget by tens of millions of pounds, not increasing it by £5m.”
UK drivers are “confused” by the country’s electric car transition, ministers are being warned.
Although most drivers are not hostile towards electric vehicles (EVs), many are confused about what changes are coming and when, according to new research from the AA.
In a survey of more than 14,000 AA members, 7% thought the government was banning the sale of used petrol and diesel cars.
Around a third thought manual EVs exist, despite them all being automatic.
More than one in five said they would never buy an EV.
The government’s plan for increasing the number of electric vehicles being driven in the UK focuses heavily on increasing the supply of the vehicles.
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What you can do to reach net zero
In 2024, at least 22% of new cars and 10% of new vans sold by each manufacturer in the UK had to be zero-emission, which generally means pure electric.
Each year, those percentages will rise, reaching 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans in 2030.
Manufacturers will face fines of £15,000 per vehicle if electric vehicle sales fall short of 28% of total production this year.
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By 2035, all new cars and vans will be required to be fully zero emission, according to the Department for Transport.
Second-hand diesel and petrol cars will still be allowed to be sold after this date, and their fuel will still be available.
There are more EVs – but will people buy them?
In February, 25% of new cars were powered purely by battery and in January, they made up 21% of all new cars registered in the UK.
But despite the growth of electric sales, manufacturers continue to warn that the market will not support the growth required to hit government EV targets, and called for consumer incentives and the extension of tax breaks.
The AA suggested the government’s plan focuses on “supply but does little to encourage demand for EVs”.
It called on ministers to co-ordinate a public awareness campaign alongside the motoring industry which directly targets drivers who doubt the viability of EVs.
“Our message to government is more needs to be done to make EVs accessible for everyone,” said Jakob Pfaudler, AA chief executive.
Which? head of consumer rights Sue Davis said: “When it comes to making sustainable choices such as switching to an electric car, our research shows that people are often held back by high costs, complex choices or uncertainty.
“The government needs to provide the right information on electric vehicles and other sustainable choices so that people have the confidence to switch.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “We’re investing over £2.3bn to help industry and consumers make a supported switch to EVs.
“This includes installing a public charge point every 28 minutes, keeping EV incentives in the company car tax regime to 2030, and extending 100% first-year allowances for zero-emission cars for another year.
“Second-hand EVs are also becoming cheaper than ever, with one in three available under £20,000 and 21 brand new models available for less than £30,000.
“We’re seeing growing consumer confidence as a result.”
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