The Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT) and One-Stop Shop project is an innovative approach to tackling energy inefficiency across Surrey, and is funded by the UK Government's Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) competition. Designed to provide a range of benefits, including:
- Lowering energy bills for thousands of Surrey residents
- Making Surrey homes more modern, cosy, and efficient
- Improving the thermal comfort of homes, reducing damp and mould and associated health issues
- Reducing carbon emissions from the residential energy sector.
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What is HEAT?
Approximately 300,000 homes in the county have energy performance ratings of D or worse, meaning that thousands of families and residents live in homes which are poorly insulated, and liable to damp or mould.
Alongside the many health issues associated with poorly-insulated homes, residential energy accounts for over 30% of Surrey's carbon emissions, a figure which could be significantly lowered through improved energy performance, and reduced energy use.
HEAT is one of the UK's largest energy-based collaborations between a local authority and community groups, and is a great example of some of the practical benefits that Surrey's net zero strategy can have for our residents.
We will join forces with over a dozen local community groups, in a project that will focus on delivering high quality, in-person energy advice to target audiences, alongside the development of a 'One Stop Shop', designed to help residents along the journey to improve the energy efficiency of their home and make long term cost-savings and home improvements.
How does HEAT work?
The project consists of two interrelated activities:
In-person energy advice
In-person energy advice will be delivered by trained community members. They will conduct thermal imaging surveys, supply remedial measures for quick wins such as draught proofing, and produce a report to help the householder cut their energy use and bills.
The householder will then be signposted along the most appropriate path for their circumstances. That could be support with energy debt, and a referral to a funding programme such as Home Upgrade Grant or Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) for support from your energy supplier, which can provide up to £25,000 of energy efficiency improvements for eligible residents. Or, if a resident can afford to invest themselves in long-term energy saving measures, such as insulation, solar panels or an air source heat pump, they would be referred to a Retrofit Assessor and trusted installers via the One Stop Shop.
Surveys are free to residents within target audiences, and you can find out more, or register your interest, on the website of our delivery partners Zero Carbon Guildford.
One Stop Shop
The second part of the project will be the development our 'One Stop Shop', an online tool which allows residents to create a high-level retrofit plan, bespoke to their property type and budget, and responsive to changes in the availability of government grant funding, or changes in the cost of energy efficient technologies. It will then connect residents as a next step with a Retrofit Assessor to conduct a more comprehensive in-person assessment of the property which leads to a detailed step-by-step Whole-House retrofit plan. Finally, it will offer a trusted network of installers and a Retrofit Coordinator to guide the resident through the process once they are ready to have measures installed.
Most of our residents don't have the ability to simply front the investment needed to retrofit their home - regardless of the long-term saving potential. The One Stop Shop will therefore in a future phase seek to signpost residents to appropriate green finance offers, and provides recommended suppliers and installers from Surrey, in turn boosting the growing local retrofit market and supporting Surrey's economy. Win-win for everyone.
Register your interest
Register your interest in the One Stop Shop today by completing this form, and we'll update you once it is live.
