Act fast to save energy
FIVE-MINUTE GUIDE TO... GREEN HOMES GRANT
IF YOUR home energy bills go through the roof every winter, you might warm to the new Green Homes Grant announced in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Summer Statement lastwednesday.
This will cover two thirds of the cost of making your home more energy-efficient, with vouchers worth up to £5,000 per household.
This rises to £10,000 for low income households where vouchers will cover 100 per cent of the work.
The £2billion initiative will help retrofit England’s ageing housing stock, as well as cut energy bills and carbon emissions.
It should also create more than 100,000 jobs for plumbers, electricians and builders.
The scheme starts from September and is open to both homeowners and landlords. However experts say if you qualify, choose tradespeople carefully, to avoid a botched job.
It can really pay to take advantage of this new scheme. If you spend £5,000 installing cavity wall and loft insulation, the Government would cover £3,300 of this, while you pay the remaining £1,700.
With the Treasury calculating that better insulation could save homes around £300 a year, the work could quickly pay for itself. Uswitch.com energy expert Sarah Broomfield said the lockdown alone added £195 a year to the average bill, as people used more lights, heating and electricity. “The Green Homes Grant could not have come at a better time.”
The big question is whether you will be eligible for support.there is no definite answer for now, because the Treasury has yet to publish criteria, or say which energy-efficiency measures will be covered.
Another question is whether you can still apply for the grant if you already have, say, double-glazed windows, but they are no longer so energy-efficient.
We also do not know if you can put the grant towards work costing more than £5,000, say, external wall insulation.
All jobs must be done by an accredited firm.you will need to obtain a quote from them, and if the work is approved, you should then be issued with the voucher and can get cracking.
Paula Higgins, chief executive of the Homeowners Alliance, warned there may be a shortage of competent tradespeople to carry out the work, so choose carefully from the accredited list. “Previous schemes have resulted in homeowners being targeted by rogue traders,” she said.
Higgins says it pays to get the work done before the colder weather comes and bills start rising: “You want to be ready in case of another lockdown.”
Comparethemarket.com’s head of energy Peter Earl said another reason to act fast is that the £2billion set aside for the scheme may only be enough to upgrade 650,000 homes. “This only represents 2 per cent of all households in the UK,” he said.
Earl urged homeowners to take other measures, such as switching to a competitive fixed-term energy tariff: “Growing numbers provide renewable energy, which means going green does not need to cost the earth.”
Buy-to-let landlords will be able to apply for vouchers to help fund the cost of energy improvements to rental homes, although tenants cannot.
The National Residential Landlords Association is encouraging landlords to take advantage, saying this will boost housing standards and help to reduce energy bills for tenants.