The fund will pay for letters to be posted out from the local authorities to more than 1 million homes next month advising them of the impending deadline and encouraging them to come forward to apply for a free home insulation assessment.
The free insulation offer will, subject to survey, enable all households with less than 60mm of loft insulation and all homes with an empty cavity wall, to be insulated free of charge, regardless of their income. Households with some of the lowest incomes, also known as the “Super Priority Group” and often those found to be in fuel poverty, will also receive a payment of £200 to help them towards their energy bills.
To encourage a wider take up of energy efficiency and renewable energy, households will also be offered a £500 discount voucher for solar PV and a £200 discount should they wish to upgrade their boiler to a more energy efficient model. With Enact currently running a 20 per cent solar sale till the end of June, residents who combine this with the special discount voucher could benefit from a 3.92kWp solar PV system fully installed for as little as £6,299.
Jamie Champness, partnership manager for Enact said: “Despite years of cheap subsidised home insulation, there remain millions of homes without adequate loft and cavity wall insulation. Most people will not realise just how heavily subsidised the insulation has been over the last decade and will be shocked next year when under the government’s new initiative ‘Green Deal’, they are asked to pay full price which could be as much as £1,000 for a fully insulated detached home. In the last six months of this year, insulation is benefiting from the largest grants ever as energy retailers try to meet their CERT targets. There therefore has never been a better time for householders to take advantage of the free insulation and as a trusted organisation, local authorities can play a vital part in getting this message out to their residents through the free marketing funded by Enact.”