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NEWS RELEASE

Ref: 428/07
Date: 18 November 2007

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Benn launches plan for one stop shop for greener homes

Homes across the country will have access to a one stop shop service to help make their homes greener, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced today.

The Green Homes Service will provide a single point people can contact for a home energy audit plus advice on how they can save water, reduce waste, green their travel, and connect to grants and offers from energy companies.

Hilary Benn said:

“When it comes to cutting your carbon footprint, the old adage ‘there’s no place like home’ really is true. We need to make this as easy as possible for people to do. There’s a lot of help out there in the form of grants, advice, and other assistance, but it’s hard to know where to start.

“The Green Homes Service will cut through the confusion by providing a one stop shop, including a green MOT for your home and a green home makeover.  We’ll be backing this by making help and support available to even more households than in the past.”

Housing Minister, Yvette Cooper, said:

“Home buyers and sellers are now getting energy information on their homes, but they need advice and support on how to use that information to cut their fuel bills and get a better rating on their homes for the future.  The Green Homes Service is a great way to link home owners with the grants, loans and financial packages that can help them cut the carbon emissions from their homes.”

Energy Saving Trust Chief Executive Philip Sellwood said:

“A simple no-nonsense approach with practical green advice is what people are after, tailored for them and that is right for their lifestyles. They want a total green solution, delivered by one impartial, trusted organisation. This is what Green Homes will provide. This way the Energy Saving Trust can reach the people who want to green their lives, but don’t know where to go and those who just want it done for them, without having to worry. We’ll take the hassle away.”

The Green Homes Service will:

  • Offer a green home health check – essentially an MOT for your home – providing advice on energy saving as standard but also on water saving, waste reduction and recycling and green travel options if desired;
  • Connect people with offers from energy companies for discounted or free energy saving products such as cavity wall and loft insulation, and offer a range of other financial support packages through programmes such as Warm Front;
  • Offer a range of financial support packages to householders;
  • Contact people buying and selling homes with poor energy ratings to connect them with grants, loans and financial packages to get the work done to improve the rating on their homes; and
  • Pilot a premium service for a green home makeover using trusted suppliers and minimising hassle for the householder.

The service will be backed by a range of measures, including:

  • Transforming the Energy Saving Trust with more than £100 million in government funding to build the existing energy advice service to become a proactive Green Homes Service rolled out nationwide by 2011, based on a regional network of one stop shops.
  • Boosting investment in energy saving, by requiring energy companies to double the energy saving measures they install in people’s homes from April 2008, meaning they will reach up to 8 million households. The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) will save 4.2 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2011 through measures that could include cavity wall insulation for 3 million homes, with a typical saving of £90 on fuel bills.
  • Increasing support for renewable energy, with new CERT incentives for energy companies to innovate, encouraging them to install more renewable energy. Up to 150,000 homes could be generating their own renewable energy by 2011, and other incentives for microgeneration, such as feed-in tariffs, will be investigated.
  • Promoting innovative finance, with the Green Homes Service leveraging funding from the Government’s home energy saving and fuel poverty schemes, as well as looking at how to remove barriers to investing in home energy saving and renewable energy through savings on fuel bills – for example by linking repayments to the home, regardless of a change in ownership or switching energy supplier.

The service will be launched on 1 April, when the Energy Saving Trust will offer green advice to consumers on energy efficiency, renewable energy, travel, water efficiency and waste reduction.

The Energy Saving Trust currently has a reactive only service and people contact the Trust. This funding will enable the service to be proactive and taken directly to people’s doors.

The Green Homes Service will form part of the Government’s Act on CO2 campaign, which aims to encourage people to cut their own carbon footprint. More than 500,000 people have already visited the web-based Act on CO2 calculator to work out their carbon footprint and receive a personalised action plan to reduce it.

Over the last six years, Government schemes have insulated two million homes. Under the new Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, which sets targets for household energy suppliers to promote reductions in domestic CO2 emissions by encouraging and assisting householders to take up energy efficiency and microgeneration measures, more than five million homes will be helped.

Notes to editors

1. The Green Homes Service will help consumers who are interested in acting but need help to make greener choices. The scheme will have various options and services available for consumers, and the pricing for premium services is yet to be determined.
 
2. The Energy Saving Trust enables millions of people every year to take energy saving action via its free advice service which has been established for 15 years.  In that time EST, which was established and is funded by the Government and the private sector, has supported the adoption energy saving measures that will lead to around 75 million tonnes of CO2 being saved.  With a background in commercial partnerships it is able to reach people at key life stage points, such as when they move home, re-mortgage, or shop for new products.

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Page published: 19 November 2007

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs