Positive news today if you sell solar panels, heat pumps, home and heat batteries, smart controls, insulation and draught proofing as the Government has announced a new Warm Homes Plan, with plans to spend £15bn on improving homes across the country.
Bad news if you sell windows and doors, as they are not included in the list of measures.
Warm Homes Plan
This is part of a lengthy press release issued by the Government late yesterday:
Families across the country will see lower energy bills as a result of the government’s comprehensive plan to upgrade the nation’s homes.
The ‘Warm Homes Plan’ will deliver £15 billion of public investment, roll out upgrades to up to 5 million homes that could save them hundreds on energy bills and help to lift up to a million families out of fuel poverty by 2030.
The government has already taken immediate action on the cost of living at the Budget, taking an average of £150 of costs off energy bills from April. On top of this, around 6 million households will receive the £150 Warm Home Discount – a total package of £300.
Upgrading homes is one of the best ways to bring down bills for good, and this plan is a vital next step in addressing the long-term issue of energy affordability for the country. Home insulation installations fell by more than 90% between 2010 and 2024, and millions of households have paid higher energy bills as a result.
The British people are currently showing record demand for home clean energy products like solar panels and heat pumps. The cost of these products continues to fall, but they are still out of reach for too many – and this plan will help bring these costs down so working people can benefit.
The ’Warm Homes Plan’ targets help at low-income families, alongside a universal offer, to ensure that working families can feel the benefits of products that can cut their bills.
Alongside this, the plan will support consumer choice for all households, so people can choose the technologies that work for them as and when they want. Homeowners will be able to apply for government-backed, low and zero interest loans to install solar panels – unleashing a “rooftop revolution”.
These loans will also be available for batteries and heat pumps, making it easier than ever for every home to access clean energy technologies that can lower bills. Low-income households and those in fuel poverty could receive support that would cover the full cost of having solar panels put on their rooftop, or insulation installed, alongside new rules to ensure landlords invest in upgrades to cut bills for renters and social tenants.
You can read the entire press release here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/families-to-save-in-biggest-home-upgrade-plan-in-british-history
Essentially, this looks like Green Deal 3.0. You’ll remember the previous two iterations under previous Governments failed through lack of communication and demand. Although companies in the aforementioned product segments will welcome this news, I suspect many will remain cautious about getting excited about this new scheme, given how poor the previous two versions were.
It is going to be another loan scheme, where low-income homes will be the target of low and zero-interest loans to help pay for home improvements. Although the scheme will be available to all homes.
The Government has announced this new scheme, but has said that it will only provide more detailed information on how it will work later in the year. It is imperative that this new scheme is both easy for homeowners to engage with and easy for installers of these products to operate within the scheme efficiently. Also, installers need to be paid swiftly by the Government for the work they do. One of the biggest complaints from companies that took part in previous schemes is that they were very delayed in getting paid, which isn’t fair and certainly doesn’t encourage other companies to get on board.
Windows again excluded
It is disappointing to see that once again our industry has been excluded from a scheme such as this. We are all well aware in this industry what a massive difference to a home’s energy efficiency new windows and doors can make. It is one of the biggest heat-saving measures a homeowner can make to their property.
Yet, we have been left out. It is frustrating, especially when you look at some other costs included in the list, such as heat pumps. These are still very expensive measures to take, comparable to new windows, if not slightly more, depending on the installation.
We would need to contact the Government to ask why our industry was not included in this new scheme. Sadly, I believe there are two reasons. The first is we would likely be told that the cost to cover all these homes would be too much. Something I would challenge when you look at the cost of heat pumps.
The second is that I know, after being told numerous times from people with knowledge on the matter, that Government and Civil Service relationships with our sector are not great. We are not held in great regard because of our reputation, inability to work together as a sector to represent it as one voice, and previous behaviour in meetings with civil servants. We are more likely to be ignored because we are unable to look as professional when compared to other sectors. We have only ourselves to blame for that.
Unless the door suddenly opens to consultations with the Government, we’re not going to be looking to gain any direct benefits from this new scheme. It will be interesting to see how the scheme is going to work once more details are announced.
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Unfortunately this is not surprising. Whenever we correspond or talk to the Government Department there is this obsession with “Fossil-free measures”. It is nonsense. Despite the political propaganda, the reality is that fuel bills are increased to pay for subsidised loans to buy expensive heat pumps etc. The socialist’s agenda is with us again. Dependency economy. No real support for those who create wealth. The only interest as far as glazing is concerned at the Department is to pile on more and more restrictive legislation on this industry, and to encourage expensive triple glazing on the basis it provides better… Read more »