Wales-wide support

Retrofitting or improving your household comes at a financial cost. Despite the long term financial and environmental benefits of installing measures to create a healthy and efficient home, costs can seem prohibitive for many households, especially recently with the current cost of living crisis. Cartrefi Clyd have therefore collated the funding and financial support that is currently available to householders across Wales. We will be updating this page if and when other support measures are put in place to help householders with energy efficiency measures.

Funding schemes

Green Homes Wales

Green Homes Wales is a Welsh Government initiative, managed by the Development Bank of Wales, designed to support eligible homeowners in making energy efficient improvements to their homes. The Scheme offers both interest free financing and fully funded expert support, helping you save money on energy bills and reduce carbon emissions.

NEST

NEST is a scheme run by Welsh Government. It is available to Welsh householders who are in receipt of means tested benefits and privately own or are privately renting a domestic property. In addition, the property must have an energy efficiency rating of F or G which would indicate that the home offers poor energy efficiency.

Homes are assessed individually to determine which energy efficiency measures are needed and will be most effective. These could include measures such as insulation, draught proofing and boiler replacement. The energy saving measures will be implemented by British Gas.

For more information on the Nest scheme see www.nestwales.org.uk or ring 0808 808 2244

See our section on funding available within each local authority area for schemes based on ECO funding, which also offer help for those on low incomes and in hard to treat homes.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme

The Boiler Upgrade scheme is the only home energy improvement scheme currently on offer from the UK government that is not means tested. This scheme is available for people installing heat pumps in England and Wales, offering £7,500 up front for air source heat pumps or £7,500 for ground source, or £5,000 towards a biomass boiler.

Application to the scheme is via your installer, so your first step is to find an installer, who must be MCS accredited. You can find local MCS accredited installers on the MCS website https://mcscertified.com/. The installer will take you through the process,

You will need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) that is under 2 years old so if you do not have one, you will need to commission this first. The EPC must not be recommending cavity wall or loft insulation, so you might need to get some work carried out before the EPC is lodged. .

Some installations and not eligible for the scheme, such as a replacement heat pumps and hybrid heat pumps (where you also have a fossil fuel boiler). Installations on new build properties are only eligible for those who have commissioned their own home.

There are currently only sufficient funds in the scheme for 30,000 installations per year, and this includes small business installs, so the scheme is likely to run out of funding from time to time until the government puts more money in.

VAT reduction on energy saving measures

Although not a funding opportunity, the UK treasury have announced a zero rate on VAT for the installation of energy-saving materials that are made after 1 April 2022 up to and including 31 March 2027. More information and details of what is and isn’t eligible for this VAT tax relief are available here.