Energy efficiency loans and grants

A range of different loans and grant schemes are available to help improve the energy efficiency of homes and community centres in the borough.

If you live in a listed building or conservation area, check to see if you need planning permission or listed building consent for energy efficiency measures

Overview of available loans and grants

These tables provide an overview of available loans and grants, with further detail including how to apply below.

Further details and how to apply

Homeowner Loan

How much: up to £10,000

Who it is for: Homeowners (owner-occupiers)

Eligibility: Open to all owner-occupiers, following an assessment by the Parity Trust.

Details: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has established a fund to help homeowners pay for the installation of energy efficiency improvements in their homes. The loans can be used for range of measures including:

• double-glazing of windows and doors
• insulation, including floors, roofs and walls
• heating systems
• water efficiency measures
• renewable energy technologies, such as solar power or ground source heat pumps.

Conditions: Interest will be charged at 4.49%, together with an arrangement fee of £95. Repayments can be made in one of three ways:

• Capital repayment loan: A monthly payment is applied against the interest and capital, with the amount you owe decreasing with each monthly payment.
• For example: If the loan amount is £5,000, over 5 years your monthly payment would be £93.19 with a total repayment of £5,591.40; OR over 15 years your monthly payment would be £38.22 with a total repayment of £6,879.60
• Interest-only loan: A monthly payment is applied against interest but not the capital amount over a 25 year term. You are required to pay the capital on the sale of the property of when the loan term expires.
• For example: If the loan amount is £5,000, over 25 years your monthly payment would be £18.71 to cover interest only. You would still owe £5,000 on completion of the loan or the property is sold.
• Interest roll-up loan: There are no monthly payments. The loan balance increases over time as the interest rate accumulates. You must pay the total loan balance when the property is sold or when the loan term expires.
• For example: If the loan amount is £5,000, over 25 years your monthly payment would be £0 but interest would be payable on completion of the loan or the property is sold. This would equate to: £6,256 if the loan was paid back within 5 years; £9,793 if the loan was paid back within 15 years; and £15,330 if the loan was paid back within 25 years.

How to apply: The Parity Trust administers this loan scheme on behalf of the council. For further information or to apply for a loan, you can contact the Parity Trust by telephone on 023 9237 5921 or by email at mail@paritytrust.org.uk.

Homeowner Grant

How much: up to £3,000

Who it is for: Homeowners (owner-occupiers) receiving means-tested benefits who are not eligible for a loan

Eligibility:

• Homeowners receiving means-tested benefits
• Property must be within council tax bands A to E
• Any energy performance certificate (EPC) rating

Details: The Homeowner Grant is available for people who are on means-tested benefits and who are not eligible for a loan, following an assessment by Parity Trust.

The grant can be used for a range of measures including:

• insulation
• heating systems
• double glazing
• draught proofing
• renewable energy measures

Other conditions:

• Grants in excess of £2,500 must be repaid if the property is sold within three years.
• Two estimates for works must be obtained, with the homeowner going with the cheapest quotation unless they wish to make up the difference
• The contractor employed to carry out the works must be a member of a professional body

How to apply: To qualify for this grant you must first have an assessment from Parity Trust who can be contacted on 023 9237 5921 or email mail@paritytrust.org.uk.

If you are not eligible for a loan, Parity Trust will let the council know and you will then be sent an application form for this grant. You may be asked for photos for evidence of what energy-saving measures are required.

Home Upgrade Grant (HUG)

How much: up to £38,000

Who it is for: Homeowners (owner-occupiers) and landlords

Eligibility:

• Households not connected to mains gas grid for heating purposes, with their mains heating being off gas, or reliant on alternatives such as bottled gas and oil to heat their homes
• Energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of D, E, F or G
• Household income below £31,000, or under £20,000 after housing costs (i.e. rent or mortgage costs, and council tax), or your household is on means-tested benefits, or your household is in an automatically eligible postcode area (IMD income decile 1-3).
• Landlords will have to contribute a minimum of one third of the total costs of the installation.

Residents can check their eligibility on the government website

Details: The Home Upgrade Grant offers off-gas properties funding for the following energy efficiency and low carbon heat measures:

• external or internal wall insulation
• cavity wall insulation
• loft insulation
• underfloor insulation
• air source heat pumps
• high heat retention storage heaters
• solar panels
• heating or thermostat controls
• room in roof insulation
• park home insulation

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council is working with Portsmouth City Council and its partner Warmer Homes to deliver the scheme locally.

How to apply: residents can apply for a grant on the Warmer Homes website or by calling 0800 038 5737.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme

How much:

• £7,500 is available towards air source and ground source heat pumps
• £5,000 is available towards biomass boilers

Who it is for: Homeowners (owner-occupiers) and non-domestic properties

Details: The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides grants to fund the replacement of existing fossil fuel heating systems with more efficient, low carbon heating systems. This includes air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps and, in limited circumstances, biomass boilers.

Eligibility:

• Property must have a valid energy performance certificate (EPC) with no outstanding recommendations for loft or cavity wall insulation.
• Heat pumps are eligible either on or off the gas grid. Biomass boilers are only eligible in rural locations and in properties off the gas grid.
• You must be fully replacing an existing fossil fuel system such as oil, gas or direct electric.

How to apply: You will need to find and contact an installer to quote for the work. The installer will apply for the grant on your behalf. The value of the grant will be discounted off the price you pay. We recommend you get quotes from more than one installer to make sure you’re getting the best value for money, and ensure that the installer is MCS Certified. The MCS quality assurance scheme ensures that installers are competent and the products they use meet the correct standards. You can search their website for certified installers in your area. Further information on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is available on the GOV.UK website.

Energy Company Obligation (ECO)

How much: Dependent on the measure(s) installed

Who it is for: Homeowners and tenants

Details: The government’s Energy Obligation (ECO) scheme requires large energy suppliers to provide funding for energy efficiency improvements to homes for low-income households in hard-to-heat properties.

Homeowners may be contacted directly by an installer claiming to be working under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme. If the company claims to be an installer, always ask to see the following credentials as for almost all measures (except for connections to district heating systems) installers under ECO must be TrustMark accredited and will have a registration number. TrustMark provide a list of top tips for ensuring a tradesperson is trustworthy, and installers registered with TrustMark must provide approved financial protection and warranties for their work.

If an installer agrees that you are eligible for work under the ECO grant funding, they will pass your details to the National Energy Foundation (NEF) or AgilityEco who are administering this grant on behalf of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. You should then receive a phone call from NEF or AgilityEco to confirm your eligibility, which will then allow the grant application to be approved by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

Further information about the ECO scheme can be found on the Ofgem website.

Eligibility:

The government requires that households fulfil eligibility criteria:

• EPC D and below

AND one of the following

1. Low-income households with a total income less than £31k.

2. Fuel poor households that meet a combination of two proxies (conditions apply):

1. Homes in Lower-layer Super Output Area (LSOA) 1-3 on the English Indices of Deprivation.

2. Council tax reduction on the grounds of low income.

3. A person living at the premises is considered to be vulnerable to the cold under the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidance: Recommendation 2, for a reason other than their low income.

4. Child living at the premises is eligible for free school meals.

5. A householder supported by a LA run scheme, that has been named and described by the LA as supporting low income and vulnerable households for the purposes of NICE Guideline.

6. Referred by Citizens Advice as identified as struggling to pay their electricity and gas bills.

3. Households with health conditions identified by a doctor or GP which may be impacted further by living in a cold home.

How to apply: Generally installers will contact you if they believe you are eligible or you can contact an energy company.

If you are concerned by any installers cold calling you, please do take their details and follow the cold callers and scams guidance above. Genuine installers will be registered and should always be happy to call you back once you have checked their credentials.

Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS)

How much: dependant on measure installed

Who is it for: Homeowners and tenants

Details: This scheme is designed to help people insulate their homes, make homes more energy efficient, and save money on energy bills. The scheme is predominantly single measures.

You may be able to get support to install:

• cavity wall insulation
• solid wall insulation (internal or external)
• loft insulation
• flat or pitched roof insulation
• underfloor insulation
• solid floor insulation
• park home insulation
• room-in-roof insulation

Conditions:

There are two different groups eligible for the Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS):

• General eligibility: EPC D to G and within council tax bands A-D.
• Low income group: same routes as ECO (above).

You can be a homeowner, landlord or tenant (either renting privately or from a housing association). If you’re a tenant, speak to your landlord before you apply. You’ll need their permission before any insulation can be installed.

How to apply:

Apply via the gov.uk website

Landlord Grants

How much: up to £500

Who it is for: Landlords

Details: A one-off grant for landlords to help them pay for energy efficiency improvements to their rental property or properties to benefit tenants and help to reduce fuel bills.

The grant is targeted at properties with poor levels of insulation and may be used to part fund more costly improvements, such as a replacement boiler or double glazing.

Conditions:

Grants are offered to landlords on the following conditions:

• the landlord has not previously received a grant from this scheme. There is one £500 grant available to each landlord irrespective of how many rental properties they have
• the work can only be for measures that will improve the energy efficiency of the property, such as additional insulation
• evidence of the works to take place, such as a contractor’s quote, must be provided prior to the works taking place
• evidence that the work has been completed, such as photographs, must be provided following the completion of the work
• a grant cannot be given for work already completed at the time of application
• for all work, a quotation from a registered company must be provided before the grant can be approved. While we are aware that some energy efficiency improvements can be done as a DIY job, in order to ensure the work is completed to industry standard and will not cause damp problems or electrical faults we require the work to be done by a professional installer

How to apply: Please contact the Climate Change team for an application form.

Advice about energy efficiency improvements

For impartial advice about home energy improvements, visit the Energy Saving Trust or the Environment Centre website.

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating

An EPC gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years. You can find your property’s energy efficiency certificate on the GOV.UK website. If your property does not have an energy efficiency certificate, you can find out how to get one on the GOV.UK website.

Cold callers and scams

Sometimes installers may legitimately call homes direct in order to get business through one of the available grant schemes. However we always recommend that, if you get a cold call from an installer offering you a service, you check to make sure they are a trusted company and registered with a professional body.

• For loft insulation: The National Insulation Association (NIA) is a member organisation for the insulation industry in the UK. Members agree to follow a code of professional practice to ensure that customers who use them receive excellent customer service.
• For heat pumps, solar, wind and biomass installers: Find an MCS Certified contractor in your area. The MCS quality assurance scheme ensures that installers are competent and the products they use meet the correct standards.
• For general trades people: TrustMark is the only government-endorsed scheme for all trades in and around the home. Search for reputable organisations and reliable tradespeople using your postcode. TrustMark provide a list of top tips for ensuring a tradesperson is trustworthy, and installers registered with TrustMark must provide approved financial protection and warranties for their work

Homeowners may be contacted directly by an installer claiming to be working under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme. If the company claims to be an installer, always ask to see their credentials as for almost all measures (except for connections to district heating systems) installers under ECO must be TrustMark accredited and will have a registration number.

If you suspect a scam, please report it to Hampshire Trading Standards. You can also check their website for details of the latest known scams

ECO4 and Great British Insulation Scheme Statement of Intent

The Statement of Intent sets out the council’s flexible eligibility criteria for the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme from April 2022 to March 2026 and the Great British Insulation Scheme until March 2026.

View the ECO4 and Great British Insulation Scheme Flexible Eligibility Statement of Intent

Contact the team