The elderly and digitally excluded to get money saving help on energy bills

Thousands of harder-to-reach households are to be offered face-to-face advice on ways to make their homes more energy efficient and save money on their energy bills, through a new government initiative.

The new service is aimed at vulnerable people such as the elderly or those without internet access. It will also help people living in harder-to-treat homes like listed buildings.

It’s being rolled out through 36 pilot schemes, with 125,000 households expected to benefit from the specialist support.

How the service is delivered will change from location to location.

In Birmingham, people will be able to pop into new energy cafes across the city to find out how to make their homes more energy efficient.

While in North Yorkshire and Cumbria a ‘green doctor’ is offering home visits for older and low-income households.

There’s also a specially adapted bus to bring energy saving tips to customer around North Yorkshire, and an electric energy van will be visiting rural areas in Lincolnshire.

Schools and community hubs will also be put to good use in other locations.

The scheme is expected to help more than 19,000 households install energy saving measures from loft and cavity wall insultation to draft proofing, better heating controls and new head pumps.

The government believes that energy efficiency remains the best way to reduce fuel poverty by making homes warmer while reducing energy bills.

For more information on what’s happening in your local area, visit www.gov.uk

Energy grants for low-income families

Councils have funding available to help low-income families upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes.

What you get and whether you’re eligible will differ from council to council depending on how they’ve chosen to use their funding - you can check your local council’s criteria at www.gov.uk

 

Support for people in social housing

Funding is also available to upgrade energy efficiency for people living in social housing through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

If your property is to be upgraded, you’ll be contacted by your social housing provider who will give you all the details you need.

 

Support from your energy company

Energy suppliers are required to help households reduce the cost of their home heating by fitting energy-saving measures.

Different energy suppliers have different amounts of support and offer different types of improvements – so you’ll need to check with your energy company to see if you’re eligible.