LEICESTER City Council has been awarded £1million for a new scheme aimed at tackling fuel poverty with grants for energy efficient and low carbon heating.
The city council successfully bid for support from the Government’s Green Homes Grant scheme to help people make their homes warmer and their energy bills cheaper, while helping cut carbon emissions.
The city council will work with E.ON to deliver the scheme, but people do not need to be an existing E.ON customer to benefit from the scheme.
Eligible households – with an annual income of lower than £30,000 – can apply for 100% of the costs of installing energy efficient insulation or low carbon heating in their homes, up to a maximum of £10,000.
Grants up to £5,000, to cover up to two-thirds of the costs of energy efficiency measures, are also available to landlords and households with an annual income of higher than £30,000.
To be eligible, homes must currently have a low energy performance rating which will be determined on application.
If eligible, a home survey will be offered to best determine what improvements are most suitable. Any work carried out will be undertaken by a Trustmark registered contractor.
Deputy City Mayor for Environment and Transportation, Cllr Adam Clarke, said: “Installing energy efficient home improvements is good way to reduce your household bills while doing your bit for the environment by cutting emissions.
“We know these can be expensive and it’s vital that we offer financial support through schemes like this to help people green up their homes and stay warm through the winter.
“Our energy team does an excellent job in securing funding for schemes like this – and our Warmer Homes, Greener Homes scheme – which play a really important part in supporting residents and helping the city do its bit to tackle the climate emergency.”
Nigel Dewbery, Director of Obligation Delivery and Installation Services at E.ON, said: “We’re really pleased to be working with Leicester City Council to give eligible residents the opportunity to install a range of energy efficiency measures on their properties.
“This demonstrates E.ON’s commitment to helping improve the energy efficiency of housing across the UK and reducing individual homeowners’ impact on the environment, all helping to support our net-zero targets.”
A range of energy efficient household heating measures could be fully paid for through the scheme, including insulation, low carbon air source heat pumps, smart heating controls. The scheme is currently planned to run until 31 March 2021.
To find out more contact the Green Homes Grant team at E.ON on 0333 202 4820 (Monday to Friday 9am-5.30pm) or email GreenHomesGrant@EonEnergy.com with your contact number.
Supporting householders to install low carbon, energy efficient measures is just one of the actions resulting from the first Leicester Climate Emergency Strategy. The new strategy sets out an ambitious vision for how the city needs to change to move towards becoming carbon-neutral and adapting to the effects of global heating by 2030, or sooner.
An accompanying action plan – which will be updated on a yearly basis – sets out an initial programme of over 120 actions that will support the strategy and help achieve the ambitious carbon savings required.
To find out more visit www.leicester.gov.uk/ClimateEmergency