Housing providers asked to bid for £1.5bn of retrofit cash

Up to £1.5bn is up for grabs for local authorities and social housing providers to upgrade properties that are energy inefficient.

An estimated 130,000 low-income households across England could see their bills slashed as a result of the latest waves of funding released through the social housing decarbonisation fund (SHDF) and home upgrade grant (HUG) schemes, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The funds will allow successful bidders to install measures such as external wall and loft insulation, energy-efficient doors and windows, heat pumps and solar panels.

Lord Callanan, minister for business and energy, said: “The cheapest form of energy is the energy we do not use.” He added that the schemes would help tens of thousands with their bills.

“Together with the unprecedented support government is putting in place to help households and businesses with rising energy costs, this latest funding will extend that assistance even further, targeting help to those who need it most by making their homes warmer and cheaper to run.”

The two schemes aim to improve as many fuel-poor homes as possible to achieve an energy performance certificate rating of C by 2030, with funding set to be awarded early next year and delivered until March 2025.

The HUG funding will see £700m made available for upgrades in around 30,000 owner-occupied and private rented fuel-poor homes.

Meanwhile, the SHDF is seeking to allocate up to £800m through a second wave of the SHDF to improve around 100,000 social housing properties.

The grant funding provided by the government will have to be matched by those applying, doubling the potential investment made to £1.6bn.

Around 100,000 properties are expected to benefit, building on the 20,000 upgraded in the £179m SHDF first wave.

These latest rounds of funding were trailed in Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan for growth last Friday, which also promised that the next wave of the public sector decarbonsiation scheme would soon be open for applications, which will put a further £635m into improving the UK’s building stock.

Local authorities have four months to apply for the HUG, while applications to the SHDF close on 18 November.