Leicester scheme to help homes cut energy costs wins funding

Leicester Council to tackle fuel poverty by helping people to install energy-efficient and renewable technologies in their homes.

Thanks to £2.125m from the Green Homes Grant, the council will help people make their homes warmer while also cutting energy bills and carbon emissions.

This follows on from the Council’s previous successful bids for over £4.25m of Green Homes Grant funding, announced last November, with over 1,100 households in Leicester applying for the scheme’s support.

The latest phase of the scheme will primarily offer solid wall insulation, which can help people save an estimated £200 a year on energy bills and reduce household carbon emissions by around 900kg per annum.

Cllr Adam Clarke, deputy city mayor, said: ‘This is another important boost for our local efforts to encourage and support people to cut the carbon and financial cost of heating their homes.

‘Installing energy efficient home improvements – such as solid wall insulation – is a good way to reduce household energy bills and carbon emissions. We know these measures can be expensive and it’s really important that people can get help to meet the costs through schemes like the local Green Homes Grants.

‘Our energy team has done a fantastic job in securing over £6million of grant funding to help residents heat their homes more efficiently, cut their energy bills and support the city in doing its bit to tackle the climate emergency.’

The most recent phase of the scheme is currently open to owner-occupiers and private rented landlord properties that currently have a low energy performance, it will also support improvements to Leicester City Council’s own housing stock.

Funding for other improvements such as loft and cavity wall insulation, solar panels, air-source heat pumps and smart heating controls are still available through the previous phases of the scheme.

The City Council has partnered with E.ON to deliver the scheme, using Trustmark registered contractors to deliver the home improvements.

Nigel Dewbery, director of residential solutions at E.ON UK, said: ‘We’re really pleased to be continuing to work with Leicester City Council to offer eligible residents the opportunity to install a range of energy efficiency measures on their properties.

‘By working with the city council to deliver free energy saving improvements through the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme we’re further demonstrating our commitment to helping improve the energy efficiency of housing across the UK and reducing individual homeowners’ impact on the environment, all helping to support the UK’s net-zero targets.

‘We’re already seen a huge success with the uptake of the previous round of funding and we encourage residents to contact us to find out how they can benefit.’

In related news, the Scottish government has announced that council areas across the country will receive a share of more than £3.2bn in grant funding over five years to deliver affordable homes.

Photo by Erik Mclean