The government has awarded £16 million in funding for 12 trial projects designed to help UK homeowners cut their bills through energy saving technology.
The money was allocated to successful projects as part of the £20 million Green Home Finance Accelerator (GHFA) programme, which aims to support organisations offering funding and financing for energy efficient home improvements.
Low-carbon technologies such as solar panels and heat pumps cost upwards of £7,000, an amount that many households simply can’t afford to pay upfront. The projects awarded funding by the GHFA are trialling ways to help homeowners plan for and break down these significant costs into more manageable payment models.
Lord Callanan, the minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said that the goal of the GHFA programme was to “test progressive ways to make energy saving measures more accessible and affordable, allowing people to make their homes greener and warmer”.
Among the winning projects is the “Electric Roof Project” from Sunsave. The company was awarded £1.9 million for a financing scheme that allows customers to spread the cost of solar panels over several monthly instalments.
Energy provider E.ON was awarded £1 million to trial its “optimised Energy as a Service” project, which will provide advice and financing for up to 350 households wanting to install energy saving technology such as heat pumps, solar panels, and solar batteries.
The GHFA programme is funded through the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.
The 12 winning projects will be able to trial their products and services with UK homeowners from January 2024 to February 2025.
What type of products and services are being funded by the £16 million grant?
Here are each of the 12 organisations receiving funding from the GHFA and the projects they’re trialling:
- Sunsave: will launch a residential solar subscription product, which allows homeowners to pay for their solar panel system overtime in monthly instalments
- E.ON Energy: plans to establish and Energy as a Service programme for 350 households, which includes financing for heat pumps, solar panels, and solar batteries, as well as optimised energy tariffs and flexibility/grid services – see our review of E.ON’s existing solar panel installation service
- Snugg (Arniston Ltd): will create a digital platform called the “Green Home Hub” to help homeowners identify and plan energy efficient upgrades. It will includes information on costs, savings, and grant eligibility
- Chameleon Technology: will develop a product called “HTC-up”, which uses Heat-Transfer Coefficient technology to measure a home’s energy efficiency, and will offer tailored loans for energy efficient retrofits
- People Powered Retrofit: will launch two financing products to help homeowners pay for energy efficient home improvements
- Perenna Bank: will launch a long-term fixed rate mortgage product that offers a reduced interest rate to homeowners who improve their property’s energy efficiency
- Scroll Finance: will develop a “Green Finance Hub” platform that offers a range of financing solutions to homeowners making energy efficient retrofits
- Scroll Finance: a separate financing option from Scroll Finance intended for homeowners making whole-house retrofits
- Parity Projects: will develop an online advice service called “Ecofurb”, which will help homeowners plan energy efficient retrofits. It will include financial advice and quotes from partnered installers
- City Science: will create a web browser and app-based platform to help buy-to-let landlords upgrade their properties with energy efficient retrofits. It will suggest retrofits, provide cost estimates, and match landlords with finance providers and installers
- Energy Saving Trust: will create a digital toolkit to help banks and building societies create energy saving retrofit propositions for homeowners and private landlords. Each financial services company will have a tailored customer journey that includes energy saving advice, and information on costs, savings, and installers
- Living Places Earth: two pilot programmes planned. One to help mortgage companies identify customers to market green mortgages to, one to help local authorities identify buildings that need energy efficient retrofits and provide cost estimates
