This case study discusses the housing decarbonisation project aimed at improving energy efficiency in low-income, off-gas grid homes in North Yorkshire through renewable up-grades, despite funding cuts and delivery challenges.
In January 2023, North Yorkshire Council was awarded £14.5 million from the Department for Energy Security and net zero to deliver the HUG2 scheme, aimed at improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in 700 off-gas grid homes with low EPC ratings and household incomes under £36,000. Due to national delivery challenges, the funding was later reduced to approximately £6 million, with a revised target of 250 homes.
The project focused on installing renewable heating systems, solar panels and insulation. NYC faced significant challenges, including engaging residents of hard-to-treat homes and managing administrative delays caused by tight timeframes, procurement and legal processes. Despite these issues, the scheme aimed to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy performance in some of the county’s most difficult housing stock.
The challenge
In January 2023, North Yorkshire Council (NYC) was awarded £14.5m from the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) to deliver the Home Upgrade Grant 2 (HUG2) scheme. HUG2 aimed to reduce carbon emissions by installing energy efficiency measures in 700 private sector homes across the county, and to alleviate fuel poverty. The scheme was open to properties off the gas grid, with an EPC rating D or below and a household under £36k. Measures funded by the scheme included renewable heating, solar PV and insulation.
The area served by NYC is geographically diverse, ranging from coastal towns to market towns and rural areas. There are a high number of ‘hard to treat’ properties in the area, including stone cottages, Victorian terraces and historic and listed buildings. Previous housing decarbonisation schemes had failed to treat many of these difficult properties due to higher costs, planning challenges and consumer resistance to renewables and insulation methods.
Initial challenges were related to resident engagement and scheme administration. Residents who knew their properties were difficult to treat and were not able to be fully funded under previous schemes were unwilling to engage with the scheme initially. Administrative challenges were faced by NYC and other local authorities, including DEZNZ’s tight timeframes for delivery and internal challenges related to procurement and legal requirements, which reduced the delivery window from 2 years to less than 18 months. These challenges were not uniquely experienced by NYC and combination of these challenges resulted in funding being reduced by DESNZ to all local authorities taking part; for NYC this meant a revised allocation of approximately £6m to treat 250 homes.
Action
To alleviate the challenge posed by tight delivery timescales, NYC utilised the waiting lists from previous schemes to accelerate delivery for year 1 and into year 2. Mail-shots were targeted to private sector residents in off-gas homes using available data on fuel poverty, EPC ratings and Index of Multiple Deprivation postcodes.
Mailshots were complemented by media promotion and local events. Marketing activity generated hundreds of enquiries however around 75% of these were unsuitable. This was due to households not meeting qualifying criteria, the property being unsuitable for measures, or unwillingness from residents for works to be undertaken on their property.
Subsequent marketing activity targeted areas where neighbouring properties had retrofit works completed. This increased the suitability of residents who received promotional information and resulted in greater uptake as residents felt reassured that others in the locality had taken up retrofit measures.
NYC proactively managed contractors to ensure that ‘hard to treat’ properties received measures. The specification developed by NYC and the KPIs provided by DESNZ included a target for the number of ‘hard to treat’ properties which was re-viewed weekly in progress meetings with the delivery partner.
To support the delivery of measures on ‘hard to treat’ properties, NYC and delivery partners engaged with local planning officers for National Parks. The contractor retained one of the officers on a consultancy basis to advise on complicated jobs and to ensure they progressed.
Outcome
The actions undertaken to alleviate challenges resulted in successful delivery of the target number of homes. The proactive management approach enabled NYC to re-quest additional funding from DESNZ, which led to an overall allocation of approximately £7m.
On scheme closure, NYC had treated 329 properties with a total of 679 measures, saving each household approximately £767 per annum on their energy bills and reducing carbon emissions by 989 tCO2e.
The ‘hard to treat’ properties were managed through the process, and by the end of the scheme £1.1m of the overall budget had helped 63 hard to treat properties benefit from carbon reducing energy efficiency measures. By supporting the delivery partner to focus on hard-to-treat properties, the scheme ensured that they did not go for the quick and easy options for installations.
63% of the treated properties were improved to an EPC C or above, with 14% of those having had a previous EPC rating of F-G. This level of improvement was only possible due to the level of funding available which allowed multiple measures to be installed on the least energy efficient properties.
Reflection
The outcomes achieved exceeded the initial expectations (after the initial reduction in funding by DESNZ) and demonstrated that the duration of such schemes is critical, as so much time can be lost on procurement and legal requirements before delivery commences.
The case study could be replicated on the next round of funding from DESNZ, the Warm Homes Local Grant. A new delivery model has been agreed to avoid the delays experienced in previous iterations and to enable faster mobilization and longer delivery window.
The following lessons were learned from this project:
- Marketing to include more community events, engaging more with community partners and charities to deliver information at local level, less reliance on mailshots and regional press.
- More education for households regarding the benefits of having the measures installed, overcoming apathy and barriers to renewables.
- Prior engagement with planning services essential, both within NYC and the wider planning authorities for the national parks.
- Continued focus on ‘hard to treat’ properties is required to ensure that the most difficult properties continue to benefit. The new delivery model is based on in-house management of PAS surveys so it will be genuinely impartial to individual contractor desires for specific properties or works.
15 October
Contact information
Hannah Nutsey
Climate Change Business Partner, North Yorkshire Council
Email: hannah.nutsey@northyorks.gov.uk
Website: www.northyorks.gov.uk