LoftZone’s Post

Warm Homes Plan UPDATE: Government to relax heat pump planning rules... Today’s steps help by supporting thousands more households with home upgrades. Families already get £7,500 off the cost of a heat pump, with an extra £30 million for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme this financial year, while almost doubling the budget to £295 million for the next financial year. Overseeing around £3.2 billion of investment in warmer homes across 2025 to 2026 from government, social housing providers and supplier obligations, delivering measures to help lower bills and support cleaner heating across the UK. Some key details: Government will deliver planning reform by removing the one-meter rule that required planning permission to get a heat pump in England. Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and deliver warmer, cleaner to heat homes, with up to 300,000 homes to benefit from upgrades next year. Offer includes grants for heat pumps, support for renters and low-income households, and new investment in British manufacturing. #ASHP #warmhomesgrant #airsourceheatpumps #Midea #LG #Samsung Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eZTtJAvR

📺 The election TV debates have been dominated by betting scandals and possible tax rises. However, for millions of people across Britain living in fuel poverty, insulating homes has remained a key electoral issue. Substantive and immediate action from the next government to help homeowners save energy and cut bills for good will be critical to addressing cost-of-living pressures. 👈 Action will also help relieve the burden on the NHS from mental and physical ill-health from living in cold, damp homes and help us meet our net zero targets much earlier. 🌱 Certainly, Labour's Warm Homes Plan can be welcomed, but there is little detail on how this will be brought to life given the scale of the challenges. According to the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), there are 29 million homes in the UK that will need to be retrofitted before 2050 – about two low-energy home retrofits every minute, with at least 15 million homes needing upgrading in the next six years. When voters go to the polls tomorrow, they'll be expecting the new government elected the day after to explain how it will deliver on election promises. Part of the action they take could include changes to building regulations and reforming VAT relief for additional energy-saving materials to incentivise many more families to install and protect their loft insulation. 📈 Given that energy prices are planned to rise this autumn and only 8 million lofts in the UK have less than half the required levels of insulation, the next government could very quickly have a cold homes crisis on its hands without urgent, specific action to fix our heat-leaky homes. Comment below. #homeinsulation #warmerhomes #NWHC https://lnkd.in/dMWPM_4s

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero reveals the latest updates for the Warm Homes Plan: ✅ £7,500 heat pump grants for homeowners in England & Wales via the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, helping families save up to £100/year. ✅ Simplified planning rules – removing the 1m rule that has discouraged 34% of heat pump applicants. ✅ Targeted funding for social housing residents, renters, and lower-income households to access insulation and low-carbon heating. ✅ Investment in British manufacturing. #FutureHomes #WarmHomesPlan #EnergyEfficiency #HeatPumps https://lnkd.in/eUpbTQ8a

One to watch next week. The Minister for energy consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh will make her first appearance at the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on Wednesday 4 December, in a one-off session on retrofitting our homes for Net Zero. The UK Government has recently announced changes to its home heating schemes and policy. With a the Government committing to £6.6bn through the Warm Homes Plan, which is expected to include grants and low-interest loans, to support families to invest in insulation, low-carbon heating and home improvements. Alongside this, the Government has committed to boosting minimum energy efficiency standards for private rented homes and social housing. #energyefficiency #Government #UK #housing #netzero https://lnkd.in/e5DyzWcX

A new policy brief from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy highlights a growing concern: low-income households in the U.S. have spent a staggering 8.3% of their annual income on energy bills, exceeding the 6% threshold that signifies a high energy burden. Cities like Boston, Baltimore, New York, and D.C. were particularly affected. With one in four low-income families dedicating over 15% of their income to energy costs, the need for targeted policy changes is urgent. The ACEEE is urging policymakers to prioritize energy efficiency investments for these households, enhance access to energy programs, and boost funding for vital assistance like LIHEAP. Learn more here: https://ow.ly/8a4Y50TtwYn

Landlord’s Quick Guide to Energy Efficiency Grants and Funding Looking to improve your rental property's energy efficiency? Here are some key schemes that can help: 🔧 Boiler Upgrade Scheme Replace old heating systems with energy-efficient options like heat pumps. Available in England & Wales for eligible landlords. 🏘️ Local Authority Flex Scheme (LA Flex) Part of ECO, helps low-income households in England improve energy efficiency. Check eligibility with your local council. ⚡ Energy Company Obligation (ECO 4) Funding for homes with EPC ratings D-G. Open to benefit recipients and those in fuel poverty in England. 🏡 Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) For off-gas-grid homes with incomes under £30K. Helps improve energy efficiency in England. 🔨 Great British Insulation Scheme Support for insulation upgrades across the UK. Eligibility depends on EPC rating and council tax band. 🌟 Nest (Wales) Helps Welsh households with energy upgrades and managing bills. #EnergyEfficiency #Landlords #PropertyRenovation #LandlordTips #SustainableHomes #PropertyInvestment #PropertyFinance #PropertyInvesting #PropertyInvestor #MortgageBroker #MortgageAdvisor #MortgageAdvice #PropertyDeveloper #PropertyDevelopers #PropertyDevelopment

Landlord’s Quick Guide to Energy Efficiency Grants and Funding Looking to improve your rental property's energy efficiency? Here are some key schemes that can help: 🔧 Boiler Upgrade Scheme Replace old heating systems with energy-efficient options like heat pumps. Available in England & Wales for eligible landlords. 🏘️ Local Authority Flex Scheme (LA Flex) Part of ECO, helps low-income households in England improve energy efficiency. Check eligibility with your local council. ⚡ Energy Company Obligation (ECO 4) Funding for homes with EPC ratings D-G. Open to benefit recipients and those in fuel poverty in England. 🏡 Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) For off-gas-grid homes with incomes under £30K. Helps improve energy efficiency in England. 🔨 Great British Insulation Scheme Support for insulation upgrades across the UK. Eligibility depends on EPC rating and council tax band. 🌟 Nest (Wales) Helps Welsh households with energy upgrades and managing bills. #EnergyEfficiency #Landlords #PropertyRenovation #LandlordTips #SustainableHomes #PropertyInvestment #PropertyFinance #PropertyInvesting #PropertyInvestor #MortgageBroker #MortgageAdvisor #MortgageAdvice #PropertyDeveloper #PropertyDevelopers #PropertyDevelopment

Energy bills are gobbling up significant amounts of U.S. low-income households’ annual income, warns a policy brief released Wednesday by the The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The ACEEE urged policymakers and regulators to prioritize low-income households for #energyefficiency investments, remove barriers households face in accessing energy programs and increase funding for energy efficiency and weatherization. Reported by editor Ysabelle Kempe.

With rising energy prices and fuel poverty increasing across Britain, can electrification alone be the most affordable and scalable solution to Britain’s cold homes crisis? A NWHC blog explores this in more detail. 🔍 Millions of families continue to live in heat-leaking, expensive-to-heat homes, struggling with cost-of-living pressures. Friends of the Earth claims that nearly 10 million people in the UK live in cold, damp and poorly insulated houses.🏠 The next steps of the Warm Homes Plan seek to upgrade up to 300,000 homes by next year, with grants of up to £7,500 for heat pumps and planning reforms to simplify installations to help more people switch to heat pumps. 💡 The government is right to commit to low-carbon energy solutions, but it is critical to remember that electrification alone will not make homes warmer or bills lower. Though grants will help alleviate some of these concerns, heat pumps will remain a costly long-term solution to lowering bills and emissions. 👉 More importantly, heat pumps will not operate efficiently if loft insulation is missing or left to degrade without protection, as more heat will escape. Indeed, heat pumps will cost less to operate in well-insulated homes, as they will supply heat at a lower temperature. By boosting rates of loft insulation and protecting it so that it lasts a lifetime, the government could better enable lower cost and more effective heat pump installations. However positive the news is about the government’s drive to help people switch to heat pumps, without more insulation that is protected, heat pumps alone will not make homes warmer or bills lower. 🎯 Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/dvEfWBVx #HeatPumps #WarmHomesPlan #loftinsulationprotection #warmerhomes #NWHC

If you're looking for some light reading on a warm spring evening, why not leaf through a copy of my new report? ⚡🔥 Decarbonising home heating must be a national priority. Success will enable the UK to meet its climate targets, bolster the nation’s energy sovereignty, protect jobs in key industries, cut consumer bills and reduce air pollution. But how do we do it at pace and at scale? This report sets out what can be done to accelerate the heat pump market, focused on the twin challenge of upfront and running costs. Between Government and industry, we must: 💸 Lower the cost of electric heating, and of electricity more generally, to improve heat pump running costs. 🤝 Support the development of new business models for heat pump purchase, including leasing and service options and more flexible tariffs. 🏠 Unlock private and public finance options, such as property-linked finance, demand aggregation, and attractive retrofit loan offers. Despite the challenges, the UK has a proud history of nationally co-ordinated heating system transitions. With the right coordination and leadership from government, the UK can make vital strides towards cleaner, and more efficient heating systems. https://lnkd.in/eP6cT6Bx