In Great Britain, around 31 million of us are colder and worse off because we live in homes with an EPC of C or below, which can’t retain their heat.
Our inefficient housing stock needs upgrading with measures such as insulation, draught proofing and double glazing to reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
But, as you know, retrofitting is a complicated issue for homeowners and housing providers, not least because there’s often a “funding gap” to find the upfront costs to make this happen. Some of this gap will be addressed by the UK Government’s Warm Homes: Local Grant, which many of you will have applied to deliver. Funding that will go towards improving the EPC rating of five million low-income homes is welcome but it’s only part of the solution.
One major barrier to retrofit is the “advice gap”. Most residents don’t know how to make their homes more energy efficient and this can put them off applying for funding. We must level the playing field and enable access to tailored, impartial energy advice so that everyone can be clear about what they need to do to save energy and cut carbon at home.
In Scotland we’ve been helping residents go beyond basic energy saving tips by delivering the flagship energy advice one-stop shop, Home Energy Scotland, which we deliver on behalf of Scottish Government. It demonstrates that green finance for retrofit (as well as grants) can be successful when homes have access to personalised, tailored energy advice. This model has generated an estimated £4.7 million in lifetime savings on people’s energy bills in 2023/24.
Energy Saving Trust is calling on the UK Government to provide a similar retrofit advice service in England. Although the initial allocation of funding committed to the Warm Homes: Local Grant to 2028 is lower than expected, there is more funding committed for subsequent years. We expect to have more clarity on this funding and the offering available for higher income bands in the Warm Homes Plan, which the UK Government will be setting out in the spring.
We know from talking to UK100 and many of our local authority clients that when it comes to retrofit, you’re being asked to do a lot. You know the problem areas and the supply chain but the really challenging part is knowing exactly how to fix each individual home.
That’s why we’ve been developing digital solutions that can support you and your teams to help even more of your residents stay warm, save on their energy bills and lower their carbon emissions.
Homewise, for example, is our market-leading advice tool that gives people tailored home improvement recommendations in minutes. By completing a simple online survey, residents can get a personalised home energy action plan tailored to their needs and budget. They’ll also get an indicative EPC rating and a breakdown of improvement costs for any work and potential savings.
When the Warm Homes: Local Grant begins delivery in April 2025, residents who qualify could use Homewise to understand how to improve their homes too.
Several local authorities are already using Homewise to help them reach their net zero goals faster:
- UK100 member Waltham Forest used Homewise to pilot a loans scheme that distributed a share of £250,000 to 16 successful applicants to help them implement energy saving home improvements. Recipients of the funding used Homewise to assess and calculate potential improvements, carbon savings and changes to their home’s EPC rating. The scheme is estimated to have saved 22 tonnes of carbon and an average of £455 a year on each household’s energy bills.
- In Leicester, the city council is offering anyone living in the area access to Homewise as part of its new Climate Ready Leicester Plan, which aims to move towards net zero in a way that is affordable and practical for people.
Energy Saving Trust’s mission is to ensure that everyone benefits from a net zero future. We are therefore committed to collaborating with local authorities to help you deliver against your net zero targets by growing the green economy, reducing fuel poverty and lowering carbon emissions.
How can we help you bridge the retrofit advice gap? How could we help your local authority accelerate delivery? Share your thoughts with us by email and we can use this to help shape our next series of free Energy Saving Trust webinars in January.
In the meantime, we’d love to talk to you about the tools we have to help your residents live in warmer homes and lower their energy bills. Talk to us today.
events@est.org.uk
