New funding will help to retrofit 50,000 low-income homes

The government has announced a new £562m fund that will help to improve the energy efficiency of thousands of low-income households. 

The funding will enable over 300 local authorities across England and Scotland to fund the upgrade of the least energy-efficient and fuel-poor homes.

The measures will include installing things such as cavity wall insulation, replacing gas boilers with heat pumps and installing solar panels.

Emissions from domestic properties currently account for around 35% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, the government has said has that this fund will help to cut over these emissions by 70,000 tonnes each year.

The government has also said that the fudning will help to transform over 50,000 low-income households and also support over 8,000 energy sector jobs, including local plumbers, builders and tradespeople.

Projects that will benefit from the funding include Aberdeen City Council who have been awarded £2.2m to retrofit 100 homes.

Leeds City Council has also been awarded almost £10m to retrofit up to 600 homes across the city-region and Portsmouth City County has been awarded £9.4m to upgrade 1,200 homes across the Hampshire county to be more energy efficient.

The Local Authority Delivery scheme will work with each local authority to ensure the money is targeted at those who need it the most, including those living in social or privately rented accommodation.

UK Business and Energy Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: ‘We are ensuring households across the country enjoy warmer homes that are cheaper to heat and emit fewer emissions – all while creating new work for local plumbers, builders and tradespeople.

‘This is an initial down payment on the UK Government’s plan to invest over £9 billion into eradicating fuel poverty, improving the lives and homes of low-income households. This is yet another important step we are taking to eliminate our contribution to climate change and build back greener from the pandemic.’

Photo Credit – Pixabay