The Council understands that many homes can be costly to keep warm. Older homes are inefficient at retaining heat and fuel costs are going up. We want homes to be as efficient as possible and want to help residents obtain funding, where possible, to make homes warmer.

As part of the national and local drive to tackle climate change, there is a wide range of help and advice available both locally and nationally. The Council works closely with the Energy Saving Trust, who provide free and independent advice on what type of measures would be beneficial for your type of home. The Energy Saving Trust can be contacted for free on 0800 512012. 

There are various types of grant assistance available (see below) and other types of funding to help you generate your own electricity or heat for your home. Some measures, such as cavity or loft insulation are more cost effective, particularly where there is grant assistance to help towards the cost.

You may also be able to obtain advice and sometimes financial assistance from your own energy supplier, such as EDF Energy or British Gas. These companies often have advice teams to help you use energy more efficiently.

For many vulnerable households in receipt of income based benefits, there can be grants available through the Government’s Warm Front scheme. This can help provide efficient heating systems as well as insulation and other measures. You can contact Warm Front direct on 0800 316 2814, or can obtain advice from the Energy Saving Trust on 0800 512012

Homeowners can obtain grant funding towards the cost of loft, cavity wall insulation or external wall insulation under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme. In Central Bedfordshire, we have teamed up with local installers called Arun Services, who will offer residents these grants. For those in receipt of the following benefits this may mean the insulation is free of charge, whilst the cost of the insulation to those not receiving these benefits will be significantly reduced.

• Attendance Allowance
• Child Tax Credit (where income is £16040 or less)
• Council Tax Benefit
• Disability Living Allowance
• Disabled Persons Tax Credit
• Disablement Pension
• Housing Benefit
• Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
• Income Related Employment and Support Allowance
• Income Support
• Pension Credit
• War Disablement Pension
• Working Family Tax Credit (where income is £16040 or less)

If you would like to take advantage of grant-funded insulation offered by Aran Services  then please complete our  Insulation Grant on-line form  or call them direct on 0800 5877795 quoting CBEDS/12.

It should be noted that for those residents who are not in receipt of the above benefits it is possible that another provider may be able to provide the insulation cheaper and that they may therefore wish to check with their utility company and other providers before committing to this particular scheme.

There is assistance available to encourage residents to fit Photovoltaic Solar Panels to their homes. This is called a Feed In Tariff, which is a guaranteed tariff that your energy supplier will pay you for electricity that you supply back to the national grid. Please contact the Energy Saving Trust on 0800 512012 for more information.

The Green Deal

Please note that from December 2012 Warm Front will no longer exist. It will be replaced by a new Government initiative known as the Green Deal under provisions laid out in the Energy Act 2011.The aim of this Act is to reduce carbon emissions cost effectively by changing the way in which householders finance energy efficiency improvements to their homes by eliminating the need to pay upfront costs for energy efficiency measures. Although householders will repay the cost over time, this is not a conventional personal loan as the charge is attached to the meter and paid back through the fuel bill. If an occupier moves out, the idea is that the new occupant will pick up the charge while also benefiting from a more energy-efficient property.

The scheme will also help the most vulnerable (i.e. those on the lowest incomes who are in fuel poverty) and will help deliver major measures, such as solid wall insulation, loft and cavity insulation and heating systems in homes which need more work than Green Deal finance alone can stretch to.

The council does currently offer assistance to the most vulnerable households in fuel poverty, who cannot be assisted by Warm Front. The grant is known as affordable warmth and can help towards heating or insulation measures to make the home warmer and less costly to heat.

Where the cost of works exceeds the maximum amount available under the Affordable Warmth Assistance (currently £2500) then Home Improvement Assistance/Loan may also be available. The latter is also available to help with  essential repairs and improvements, such as remedying damp or old and dangerous wiring.

All council grants and loans are discretionary and subject to funding being available. For more advice contact the Private Sector Housing team on 0300 300 8007.

The Council can sometimes visit homeowners and advise on the best ways of saving energy and what type of assistance may be available. The Private Sector Housing team can be contacted on 0300 300 8007.