Home and business grants, schemes and advice

Support is available to help householders wanting to improve the energy efficiency of their homes or receive advice on possible grant funding. To find out more please contact:

East Herts Home Energy Support Service
Provided by Better Housing Better Health
0800 107 0044 (weekdays 9am-5pm)
bhbh@nef.org.uk
www.bhbh.org.uk
 

Through this service, all East Herts District households can obtain the following: 

Information on grants and help with checking your eligibility (including all of the grants listed below):

• Making sure you are receiving all the support you are entitled to
• Advice on switching energy suppliers
• Detailed advice on how to save energy at home
• Debt advice
• Referral to other organisations or contractors who may be able to help 
   

Grants

Energy Company Obligation (ECO4)

ECO4 is a Government energy efficiency grant scheme that aims to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy affordability and home heat comfort. You may be eligible for ECO4 if your home:

• is heated by gas, 
• has an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of D or below check your EPC
• has a household income of less than £31,000 or you are on certain benefits

Qualifying homeowners may be entitled to a range of energy efficiency improvements to their homes for free.

To find out if you could be eligible for help please contact the East Herts Home Energy Support Service, as detailed above.

Note: You may be contacted directly by an authorised ECO4 installation supplier as, once a supplier is approved by the scheme, they are permitted to conduct direct marketing to households. If you have been approached by a supplier and are not sure about their validity, please contact the East Herts Home Energy Support Service (details above) as they hold a list of all approved suppliers in our area.

For ECO4 suppliers, please see the Council's ECO FLEX SOI Document.

HUG 2 Grant

If your home:

• doesn’t use gas for central heating, 
• has an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of D or below check your EPC
• has a household income of less than £36,000, or you are on certain benefits

you may be eligible for the Home Upgrade Grant. For further details on what is covered by the grant, to check your eligibility and to apply, please visit our HUG2 information page

Great British Insulation Scheme

If you are interested in free home insulation and your home:

• has an energy performance certificate (EPC) of D to G - check your EPC
• is in Council Tax bands A-D in England or A-E in Scotland or Wales - check your Council Tax band

you may be eligible for the Great British Insulation Scheme. You can apply online via the .gov.uk portal Apply for support from the Great British Insulation Scheme - GOV.UK and/or your home energy supplier may also be participating in the scheme or offering free or subsidised insulation.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme

The government is providing grants to encourage property owners to install low carbon heating systems such as heat pumps, through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). These grants can help property owners overcome the upfront cost of low carbon heating technologies.

The scheme is open to domestic and small non-domestic properties and runs from 2022 to 2025.

For further information, please visit the Boiler Upgrade Scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Cold Weather Payments

Cold Weather Payments of £25 for each 7-day period of very cold weather (average of zero degrees Celsius or below) are available between 1 November and 31 March if you’re receiving certain benefits. Payment is automatic for those eligible. If you’re not signed up and think this could apply to you, it’s worthwhile checking. Full eligibility and application details are available on our Cold Weather Payments page.

Free Home Decarbonisation Plan and Up to £4,500 in funding

For a limited time, East Herts Council is offering free home decarbonisation plans and  access to match funding to subsidise the cost of solar panel and battery storage installation.

A total of 50 plans are on offer on a first come first served basis from October 2024. Upon completion of a plan, funding of up to £3,000 and £1,500 is available to put towards installation of solar panels and battery storage, respectively, or up to £4,500 for both, provided all works are complete, invoiced and evidenced before February 21st 2025.

If you have been considering installing solar and perhaps have existing plans or are saving towards installing them, this is a fantastic opportunity to make those plans a reality while understanding the full energy saving picture for your home.

For further information, visit our Home Energy Survey and Funding page. 
 

The Hertfordshire Energy Advice Tool (HEAT)

Of all the apps on your phone, how many of them could help you reduce your carbon footprint and save up to £70 on energy bills in just a few minutes? The Hertfordshire Energy Advice Tool (HEAT) App, allows East Herts to be one of the first Local Authorities in the UK to have partnered with Energy Saving Trust to launch an energy efficiency app, and we’d love you to try it. It’s free to download from Google Play and Apple store.

Home energy consumption accounts for 22% of the UK’s carbon emissions. On heating alone, the average home* produces 2,745kg or 1800 m3 of carbon dioxide per year. That means that, across East Hertfordshire alone, our homes pump a volume equivalent to ninety-four Wembley stadiums of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.

Heating also accounts for half of our energy bills. Here’s how we can all save money on heating and general electricity bills and really contribute to reducing our carbon footprint.

*Average home = 3 bed semi

Energy saving tips

Our favourite low cost, big return energy saving tips:

• Reduce home heating thermostat by 1 ˚ - Reducing the thermostat by 1 ˚ could save up to 25% of heating bills and associated carbon. Room temperatures of 21 ˚ and 18 ˚ in living and bedrooms are considered optimum for health and wellbeing. *
• Switch energy supplier(s) to a green alternative – Switching energy suppliers has always been a great way to save money. Green energy has also significantly reduced in price and could save up to 1.5 tonnes of carbon per household. For further information please visit our Fuel Tariff Switching page.
• Turn appliances off - Standby accounts for 8% of household energy consumption on average. Across the UK that wastes 2 power stations of electricity per year and produces 4 million tonnes of excess carbon.
• Choose LED bulbs - These last 12,000hrs plus and use little energy. Typically a 8 watt LED provides similar light levels to old style 60 watt light bulb. They reduce household energy costs by £100 p/a on average and have a 75% lower carbon footprint. Automatic light dimmers save 15% on top. Turning lights off when not in use remains the best solution.
• Think ‘energy’ when bathing – Installing an energy efficient shower head uses up to 40% less hot water * A shower instead of a bath saves 20% on water, power and carbon. Turning the hot water thermometer down a little can also have a big impact. Free shower and general water saving kits are available from Affinity Water website and Thames Water website.
• Zone and time your home heat - Bedrooms and living areas require temperature changes at different times of the day and night. Turning off radiators when not required reduces waste. Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs) rank 6th favourite for the BEIS and are eligible under the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme secondary measures. 
• Eliminate drafts and wasted heat - Install a cheap, easy-to-fix brush or PVC seal on exterior doors and keep letterboxes and keyholes covered. Fill floorboard gaps and skirting boards with newspaper, beading or sealant. Fit thermal curtains to windows and doors.
• Insulate hot water tank – A jacket for your tank costs as little as £15, takes minutes to install and can save £20 on heating and 150kg of carbon year on year. 
• Insulate lofts and cavity walls – Up to a third of home heat is lost through our walls and roof. Our Home Insulation Guide provides some useful details on how to go about warming up your home. 

*Taken from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) study into how much energy could be saved by making small changes to everyday behaviours.

This 5 minute video from the Energy Savings Trust provides more tips on how to reduce home energy consumption that could save hundreds of pounds per year.

Workplace Charging Scheme

The Workplace Charging Scheme provides up to £14,000 in vouchers towards the up-front costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle charge points at your business premises. Thresholds include 1-5, 6-15, 16-25 and 25+ employees.

Top Ten Business energy reductions tips

The Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) works with East Herts and other Hertfordshire Local Authorities to deliver the clean growth strategy - building a greener, more sustainable Hertfordshire economy and way forward for clean economic growth.

Visit the Herts Innovation Quarter website for their top ten tips on how businesses can reduce their energy consumption.

Business Climate Hub

The Business Climate Hub is a Government endorsed tool kit to help you understand your business emissions, how to tackle them, and how to share what you’re doing with your customers and community. You are then supported by ongoing ideas and incentives to help you meet your commitment of 50% emission reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2050.

Energy advice for tenants

If you rent from a private landlord, you may think there’s not much you can do to your home to save energy. Although you cannot apply for vouchers, it may be possible to get some of the improvements you want even though you don’t own the building. There are some things that a landlord has to do when they rent out a property. To check what energy efficiency or low carbon heating improvements may be best suited for your home you can use the questionnaire on the Simple Energy Advice website and build an energy efficiency plan to send to your landlord.

Financial help for home heating

Heating accounts for half of your energy bills. If you are on a low income or receiving certain benefits, financial support may be available. Find out if you’re eligible via the Warm Homes Discount, Cold Weather Payment or Winter Fuel Payment on the gov.uk website.