If you’re considering making energy efficiency improvements to your home, the Green Homes Grant scheme may be able to help as it has been designed to support homeowners who want to boost their home’s efficiency.
The Green Homes Grant scheme was introduced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in July 2020 as part of the Government’s plans to improve the energy efficiency of UK homes.
Under the scheme, eligible homeowners in England can claim vouchers to cover two-thirds of the costs of home improvements, up to £5,000.
Low income households who receive certain benefits can claim vouchers to cover the full cost, up to £10,000. The full list of eligibility criteria can be found here.
Vouchers will start to be issued from early November and you must be approved for a voucher before work can begin.
Homeowners in England are eligible for the scheme, including long-leaseholders, shared ownership, and private and social landlords. New build properties not previously lived in are not eligible.
The vouchers must be used to install a minimum of one insulation or low carbon heating measure from those listed below.
Insulation measures include:
Low carbon heating measures include:
As long as at least one insulation or low carbon heating measure is installed, the vouchers can also be used to pay for further improvements.
These additional measures include:
UKIFDA welcomed the launch of the Green Homes Grant scheme, having previously lobbied the government to incentivise homeowners to make energy efficiency improvements in their homes.
Improvement measures such as better insulation and smart heating controls are all good as they all help to boost the energy and carbon efficiency of a property as well as reduce bills for the homeowner.
However, we remain disappointed that replacement oil condensing boilers are excluded from the list of improvements open to this scheme. Government has missed a trick as a new oil condensing boiler (versus a standard boiler) can cut emissions by between 20% and 30% so we will continue to lobby on this point.
UKIFDA’s Future Vision supports energy efficiency improvements and as far as we’re aware, liquid fuel users can still take advantage of this scheme. For example, undertaking a ‘primary’ change covering insulation followed by a ‘secondary’ improvement covering double glazing or thermostat controls. If you would like to learn more about our vision for the future of liquid fuels and how you can join our campaign to lobby government to put liquid biofuels in energy policy visit this section of our website
For any heating oil consumers keen to find out more about the green homes grant scheme and how to apply, the government’s guide has more detail which can be found here and details on how to apply can be found here.
23rd October 2020
