Issue - meetings

The report will follow.

Andrew Waggott, Head of Energy presented the report and in response to questions, explained that:

The council had £486 left of the £14.18m Local Authority Delivery (LAD) funding.

The results of the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) phase 2 funding bid should be known in January.  The bid for £41.5m which will cover April 2025 to October 2027 was submitted on 18 November.  

There is very little to be gained in terms of cost-saving by removing a combi gas boiler and replacing it with an air source heat pump.  However, when the council moves into the HUG stage, which focuses entirely on homes heated by gas, it will become easier to obtain funding because old storage heaters and direct electric heaters will be removed.

The High Heat Retention Storage Heaters are purely for on-gas properties and will be carried out under the HUG programme.  This report is mainly about LAD work.

A heat pump is three times more efficient than a direct electric heater or any other electric heating system.  However, it is not always possible to find a suitable position for the pump outside, particularly for houses in conservation areas or flats.  In these cases, a high retention storage heater would be the next best option.

Although solar panel batteries are not included in this scheme, in Summer next year the SAP 10 software will be introduced and will include other measures including batteries and solar diverters.  The measures mix that the council may do is referenced in the HUG 2 bid application.  Placing a battery next to the solar panels will increase the benefit to the resident by 50% compared to a straightforward PV system.

The qualifying eligibility criteria for households are:

Any property with a EPC rating of D or lower

AND

Has a £31,000 total household income OR £20,000 after housing costs.

OR

Is in receipt of means-tested benefits.

The team has been working with the Department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy to try to show more flexibility with their criteria.

The councillors all thanked Andrew for his amazing work and wished him well in his new job.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change & Environment noted the report.