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The built sector is urging the Government to consider a more ambitious iteration of the Future Homes Standard by 2028.
The funding will be disbursed among 12 projects under the Green Home Finance Accelerator programme, designed to facilitate initiatives that enable families to secure funding for enhancing the energy efficiency of their homes.
The projects will remain operational until February 2025, actively implementing and testing their products with homeowners throughout the UK.
Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance Lord Callanan said: “We are always looking to test progressive ways to make energy saving measures more accessible and affordable, allowing people to make their homes greener and warmer.”
Among the funded projects is Sunsave’s Electric Roof Project, slated to receive £1.9m, aiming to overcome barriers hindering the widespread installation of solar panels.
Under this initiative, homeowners are relieved of upfront installation costs, opting instead for a monthly fee covering monitoring and maintenance. Furthermore, participants will receive the benefits of ‘smart tariffs,’ offering diverse electricity rates at different times of the day to maximise potential savings.
E.ON has also secured £1m in funding to launch a one-stop-shop for energy advice and funding. The project aims to support up to 350 households in adopting low-carbon technologies, including heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage.
Financing initiatives for sustainable homes
The projects awarded a portion of the £16m government funding also include:
- Perenna, securing £888,000 for the development of a long-term, fixed-rate ‘green mortgage’, in a bid to incentivise customers to enhance their homes’ energy efficiency by offering a reduced mortgage rate.
- The HTC-Up project by Chameleon Technology, received a £795,000 grant to deliver tailored green loans and cashback rewards to domestic homeowners and landlords.
- Scroll Finance Limited’s Glocers Project, slated to receive £1.5m. This initiative utilises home equity to provide a loan that funds upfront costs for installing energy-saving measures.
Green Finance Institute’s programme director for the built environment Emma Harvey-Smith said: “Delivering a range of innovative and affordable financing solutions will help homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient, lowering bills and reducing emissions.
“Developing and piloting new green finance mechanisms to ensure they successfully support as wide a range of customers as possible, and unlock barriers to retrofit, will enable more energy efficiency home upgrades at pace and scale.”
The Government has long been criticised for failing to deliver a nationwide home retrofit scheme in light of the energy price crisis and its own climate commitments. Its multi-billion-pound Green Homes Grant closed in 2021 with most of the budget unspent.
It has since launched a number of finance packages for the domestic housing stock, including £1bn for a new home insulation scheme, which it hopes will provide financial support to more than 300,000 properties.
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