07.10.14
Energy secretary announces £100m for home energy efficiency at Lib Dem conference
Homeowners across the UK are to be offered an additional £100m to fund energy-saving home improvements, after the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund burned through £120m earlier this summer.
Energy secretary Ed Davey announced the top-up during his speech to the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow this morning.
The new money marks a U-turn in policy, as Department of Energy and Climate Change officials were previously adamant the original £120m budget had to last the financial year and “once it was gone it was gone”.
Applications for a new phase of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, intended to help pay for items like wall insulation, double-glazing and new boilers, will open to households before the end of November.
Davey said: “More money means more people can live in warmer, greener homes sooner.
“Green Deal Home Improvement Fund vouchers went like hot cakes earlier in the year and now even more people can cut their energy bills by making their homes more energy efficient.”
Energy and Climate Change Minister Amber Rudd added: “Over three quarters of a million homes have already had energy saving improvements installed as a result of the Energy Company Obligation and Green Deal schemes and it makes sense to help even more families install measures so that they see the benefits of lower bills and a warmer home for years to come.”
The £100m announced today is in addition to the £450m allocated to household energy efficiency over three years, which was announced in December 2013.
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