Around £15bn has been earmarked for grants and loans to install solar panels, heat pumps and batteries to help lower bills
Households will be given £15bn in grants and loans to install solar panels, heat pumps and batteries to help lower bills, under new legislation to boost energy resilience in the UK.
A new Energy Independence Bill, announced as part of the King’s Speech, will also seek to shave money off people’s bills if they use power during sunny or windy periods when the grid is producing excess electricity.
But the most eye-catching element of the new legislation is the creation of the new Warm Homes Agency, which will oversee the Government’s vast rollout of energy electrification over the coming years.
Low-income homes
Under the Warm Homes Plan, around £5bn will be made available to fund free home improvement plans for low-income families. The packages would be tailored to what is most suitable for people’s homes, whether that is installing solar panels, heat pumps, insulation, or draught proofing. It is expected that households with a total income of around £35,000 or less would receive a grant of between £9,000 and £12,000.
Mid-to-high income homes
The plan will also provide around £2bn of government funding to back no and low-interest loans for higher-income households to fit heat pumps, solar panels, and batteries to help take them off the “roller coaster of fossil fuels”. Ministers had hoped to fast-track the rollout of the plan to help insulate households from the impact of higher energy bills later this year in the wake of the US-Iran war.
Solar panels
According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the war in the Middle East has led to soaring interest in fitting solar panels and batteries. The department has calculated that an owner-occupier three-bed mid-terrace house with solar panels and a battery fitted could save around £450 on their bills each year. The Government is also tweaking regulations to allow those renting or living in flats to buy plug-in solar panels that could save them around £110 a year on their energy bills.
Read more: iNews
