Article updated 1 November 2022. The Green Homes Grant scheme has been discontinued, and superseded by other home improvement grant schemes such as ECO4 and The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) that could get your access to funding for measures such solar PV, Home insulation, and heat pumps.
What is the Green Homes Grant scheme?
The Green Homes Grant scheme was a brief £2 billion programme that aimed to increase heat retention and lower carbon emissions to help the government meet its target of net-zero emissions by 2050. During the time that this scheme was open to applications, homeowners and landlords were able to apply for a voucher to contribute towards the expense of fitting energy efficient improvements into their homes. This would have meant households could save up to £600 a year on their energy bills.
If customers submitted a valid application before the closing date of the 31st March 2021, the government would provide funding that covered up to two-thirds of the cost of installing eligible improvements to your home, such as solar panels. The most amount of funding you could receive with this voucher was £5,000.
It was possible to get a higher level of funding if you met other qualifying criteria. This included being a homeowner and either yourself or someone in your household claiming a qualifying benefit. In these cases, the entire cost of your installation would be covered by the Green Homes Grant, with the maximum value potentially being increased to £10,000. Landlords were not permitted to apply for the low-income aspect of the scheme.
Also, Local Authorities in England had available support for low-income homes in their areas under the Green Homes Grant: Local Authority Delivery (LAD).
What energy efficient improvements were available through the scheme?
The funding had to be used to fit one primary home insulation or low carbon heating measure at least. If you decided to install a minimum of one of the primary measures, you could have used your voucher to help cover the expense of any secondary measures you wanted.
The value of the voucher for the second measure was limited to the value of the subsidy given for the primary measures. For example, if you had £400 for a primary measure like cavity wall insulation, you would be able to get a maximum of £400 for a secondary measure like an energy efficient door replacement. Both the primary and secondary measures are listed below:
Primary measures
Insulation:
- Solid wall
- Cavity wall
- Under-floor
- Loft
- Flat roof
- Room in roof
- Park home
Low carbon heat:
- Air source heat pump
- Ground source heat pump
- Solar panels
- Biomass boilers
Secondary measures
Replacement windows and doors:
- Draught proofing
- Double or triple glazing
- Secondary glazing
- Replacement doors
Heating controls and insulation:
- Thermostats
- Hot water tank insulation
- Heating controls
Who could qualify for a Green Homes Grant?
You would have qualified for
under the Green Homes Grant and Local Authority Delivery Scheme if:
- Your property had an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) energy efficiency rating of D, E, F, or G.
- Your household income was less than £30,000 or someone living in your home was claiming a means-tested benefit like Universal Credit, Income Support, and others.
How can you apply for a Green Homes Grant?
As previously mentioned, the scheme closed to new applicants on 31st March 2021. If you applied for funding before this date your application will continue to be processed as normal. You will get a confirmation email if your application is successful. If you already have your voucher, you can still use it to pay for your installation even though the scheme is now closed. However, it is important to note that the voucher will have an expiry date so you will want to use it before it runs out and you miss the opportunity.
Are there any alternatives to the Green Homes Grant Scheme?
Even though the Green Homes Grant scheme has now finished, that doesn’t mean there are no more options for you to get discounted or even free energy efficient installations in your home. The newest version of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme, ECO4, is set to be introduced later on in 2022 and will run until 2026.
What is ECO4?
This last phase of the government’s scheme aims to provide affordable, energy efficient heating solutions for qualifying households whilst also lowering carbon emissions nationally. There are some important changes being made to the eligibility criteria of ECO4 that will differ from its ECO3 predecessor. So, if you were entitled to funding through ECO3 you will want to follow the key alterations below and check to see if you can still apply for funding under the new terms.
- Modifications to the qualifying benefits (removal of several disability benefits and addition of Housing Benefit and Pension Credit Savings Credit)
- Increased number of measures through the Local Authority Flexible Energy Programme (up to 50% from 25%)
- Additional standards for improving EPC
- Almost complete removal of boiler upgrades from the scheme
- Contact us today to see if you are eligible for ECO4 solar panel grants.
