Earlier this month UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £5,000 green voucher scheme for homeowners in England. The announcement came in the Chancellor’s July mini-budget that encompassed a £30 billion boost to the economy.
Figure 1 Chancellor Rishi Sunak
The main thrust of the mini-budget was the protection and restoration of the economy following the Covid 19 lockdown with an emphasis on supporting jobs for young people and restoring sectors hit hard by coronavirus. This mini-budget could hardly be called a green budget but it did have one green element – £5,000 in energy saving vouchers to be used towards home insulation known as the Green Homes Grant.
How will the scheme work?
Like many government announcements the final detail of how the scheme will work is unknown. What is known is:
- In most situations there will be a grant of up to £5,000 for two thirds of the costs
- Grants will be for insulation and possibly double glazing
- The scheme should start in September 2020
- The scheme will be available to residential owner occupiers and land lords
- The scheme will operate in England
- There will be grants of up to £10,000 for the less well off
- The work will have to be undertaken by accredited organisations
- The budget for the scheme is £2 Billion for insulating up to 650,000 homes
Benefits of Insulation
There are a number of benefits including:
- Lower energy bills with typical savings being around £300 per year per home
- Warmer homes
- Reduced energy consumption
- Reduced green house gas emissions
- Increase in property value
Improving insulation is one of the cheapest ways of reducing green house gas emissions and, with the grant, one of the best investments a homeowner can make.
The £2 Billion scheme could result in a £180 million reduction in annual energy bills and a corresponding annual 450,000 tonnes reduction in carbon dioxide emissions which equates to around 0.2% of total UK emissions.
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Pager Power helps developers resolve technical issues that may block their development during the planning process. For more information please call us on 01787 319001.
