Tag: 2024

The press release issued by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero on 18 January 2024.

12 projects receive a share of up to £16 million from Green Home Finance Accelerator to help families improve their home’s energy efficiency.

Families will be able to access instant savings on their electricity bills through a new solar panel subscription service – one of 12 ground-breaking projects awarded funding today (Thursday 18 January).

Sunsave will receive £1.9 million of government funding to test its Electric Roof project, which aims to reduce the barriers to the widespread installation of solar panels.

Rather than an upfront cost of installing solar panels, homeowners will pay a monthly fee, covering their monitoring and maintenance. It will also include gaining access to ‘smart tariffs’ which offer households different electricity rates at different times of the day, increasing the savings available.

The 12 projects receiving funding today also include E.ON’s optimised Energy as a Service, receiving £1 million to pilot a one-stop-shop for energy advice and funding for up to 350 households for low-carbon technology such as heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage.

The awards form part of the Green Home Finance Accelerator programme, which aims to support new ways of giving families access to funding to improve their home’s energy efficiency.

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said:

When energy bills reached record highs, we stepped in to lessen the burden on hardworking families across the country.

But we haven’t stopped there and these innovative projects will allow more families to save money and cut emissions.

We are always looking to test progressive ways to make energy saving measures more accessible and affordable, allowing people to make their homes greener and warmer.

Projects to receive a share of the £16 million government funding also include:

• Perenna, which will receive £888,000 to develop a long-term, fixed-rate ‘green mortgage’ incentivising customers to make their homes more energy efficient by offering a reduced mortgage rate
• Chameleon Technology’s HTC-Up project, which will receive £795,000 to provide domestic homeowners and landlords bespoke green loans and cashback rewards, to help make their properties more energy efficient
• Scroll Finance Limited’s Glocers Project, which will receive £1.5 million to pilot a project that uses equity in a home to provide a loan that funds the upfront costs of installing energy saving measures in a flexible and affordable way

Emma Harvey-Smith, Programme Director for the built environment at the Green Finance Institute, said:

Delivering a range of innovative and affordable financing solutions will help homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient, lowering bills and reducing emissions. Developing and piloting new green finance mechanisms to ensure they successfully support as wide a range of customers as possible, and unlock barriers to retrofit, will enable more energy efficiency home upgrades at pace and scale.

The GFI continues to play a central role in developing the market for financing a net zero and climate-resilient built environment across the UK and Europe, by catalysing finance markets to deliver on ambitious decarbonisation goals and driving real-economy impact.

The winning projects will operate until February 2025, implementing and testing their products with homeowners across the UK.

The £20 million Green Home Finance Accelerator is funded through the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.

The press release issued by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on 17 January 2024.

Eligible low income households urged to make sure they get £150 in Warm Home Discount before 29 February.

People on low incomes could benefit from a £150 rebate on their energy bills – and are being urged to act now where they need to, so they can get the support before this year’s scheme closes.

The help is available to over 3 million households across Great Britain that are most at risk of fuel poverty, with many receiving the discount automatically. However, some customers in England and Wales have been sent a letter asking them to confirm their details by calling the Warm Home Discount Helpline so they can check their eligibility and get the rebate.

To mark Big Energy Saving Week, Minister for Affordability and Skills Amanda Solloway is today urging any of these households who need to provide more information to call the helpline by 29 February and get the support they are entitled to.

The scheme forms part of measures to keep costs down for families and put more money in their pockets. It targets support to protect those most at risk of fuel poverty this winter, following a significant drop in energy prices since their peak last year and the government delivering on its pledge to halve inflation – which is now at a 2-year low of 3.9%.

Tax cuts announced at the start of the year will also support 27 million people across the UK, meaning a household with 2 average earners will save nearly £1,000 a year.

Minister for Affordability and Skills Amanda Solloway said:

We will always act to support the most vulnerable – and this means making sure those most in need are getting the right support.

Today, I am urging people on low incomes who have been notified about the Warm Home Discount to make sure they act now to get £150 off their energy bill.

Please check your letter and call our helpline before the end of February if you need to provide more information.

The government’s Warm Home Discount offers targeted energy bill support for those most in need. This includes low income pensioners and households in England and Wales with high energy costs.

These customers received a letter at the end of last year explaining the discount and instructions on any action they may need to take.

For the vast majority of these customers, the discount is automatically applied to bills between October 2023 and March 2024, or is available as a top-up voucher for those with a prepayment meter.

However, some people in England and Wales who received a letter and could qualify for the support have been asked ring the government helpline number provided in their letter to confirm their details. Customers can also find out more on the government’s Warm Home Discount gov.uk page and use the online eligibility checker to see if they qualify, or call the general Warm Home Discount helpline on 0800 030 9322.

In Scotland, customers on low incomes who have not received a letter may still be eligible and should apply via a different route, by contacting their energy supplier as soon as possible.

The support comes on top of wider action to protect vulnerable households, including a £900 payment for those on means-tested benefits, £300 for pensioner households and an extra £150 available for those on disability benefits.

The government has also invested over £2 billion into the Household Support Fund over the last 2 years, increased the Local Housing Allowance Rate so £1.6 million private renters on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit gain an average of nearly £800 a year and £600 in tax-free cash for pensioner households to help with energy bills through Winter Fuel Payments.

Cold Weather Payments have also been triggered to help households receiving certain benefits to stay warm this winter. The scheme – which runs until March 2024 – provides low-income households with an automatic payment of £25 following periods of cold weather.

Anyone can access advice on how to reduce energy costs and heat their home for less via the government’s Help for Households website. This includes energy saving tips as part of the It All Adds Up campaign, which helped British households an estimated £120 million on their energy bills last winter.