?Please note that this scheme is now closed. There may be other schemes available in your area – please visit our guide to Boiler, Central Heating & Insulation Grants 2018 for more information.
The Government is turning up the heat on it’s revolutionary energy efficiency scheme, the Green Deal, by now offering homeowners up to £7,600 cashback to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
The launch of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) will see more money made available to encourage people to take up the Government’s Green Deal scheme. The initial cashback went unspent, so the Government will be pulling out all the stops to make sure that doesn’t happen again this time by making energy saving home improvements a more attractive option for consumers.
Available to homeowners in England and Wales, domestic energy users will get rewarded for carrying out a range of home improvements – there’s currently 12 on the list. So not only will households get money back on certain measures including new condensing boilers and double glazing, they should see their energy bills drop by using less energy. Installing cavity wall insulation is another cost effective way to prevent homes leaking energy.
Surprisingly though, loft insulation doesn’t qualify for the cashback scheme. Under the Green Deal cashback incentive, homeowners installing solid wall insulation can get £6,000 back, whilst installing two energy efficiency measures will receive £1,000 cashback. They can choose between:
- Condensing gas boiler
- Double glazing (replacing single glazing)
- Secondary double glazing
- Replacement doors
- Cavity wall insulation
- Floor insulation
- Flat roof insulation
- Room in roof insulation
- Replacement warm air unit
- Replacement storage heaters
- Flue gas heat recovery units
Another £500 is on offer if these improvements are carried out within 12 months of moving into a property and up to £100 will be refunded towards a Green Deal assessment. The work needs to be carried out by registered Green Deal approved installers otherwise homeowners won’t be able to access the grants.
So far take up of the Green Deal loan scheme has been less than impressive. Introduced last year, just 2,000 households have signed up to the scheme, largely due to unattractive high interest rates. But the Government remains committed to transforming the country’s aging and badly insulated housing stock.
“Faulty boilers, draughty windows and insufficient insulation all cause properties to leak hundreds of pounds every year,” said energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey. “But advice and support through the Green Deal can help put a stop to this.”
The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund will open its doors next month with a pot of £120 million to be made available. The new cashback scheme will replace the old Green Deal cashback scheme which will be closed for new applications at the end of June. Green Deal installers and providers are advised to register now, so they will be in a position to offer their customers the latest incentives.
Commenting on the newly announced funding, Sophie Neuberg from Friends of the Earth said:
“Extra money on making homes more efficient is long over-due. But an extra £120m is a paltry sum given the scale of the problem, and should be targeted at the fuel poor – not those who can afford the upfront costs. These new incentives won’t make up for the swingeing cuts to the Energy Company Obligation, which will lead to far fewer homes being insulated over the next year.”
