Energy Efficiency Advice and Grants

Green Living Leicestershire

Green Living Leicestershire is a partnership between Blaby District Council, Leicestershire County Council and other Leicestershire district authorities. The aim is to deliver projects supporting sustainability and Net Zero - the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible.

Leicestershire authorities are working together under the Green Living Leicestershire partnership to deliver projects supporting energy efficiency, sustainability, and wider net zero goals.

Green Living Leicestershire Home Upgrade Grant

The Home Upgrade Grant is administered by the County Council's Warm Homes service together with YES Energy Solutions. This scheme can provide homeowners and private tenants with fully funded energy efficiency measures. The goal is to improve the warmth and comfort of homes whilst also reducing energy bills, carbon emissions and levels of fuel poverty across the county.

The scheme supports households that do not have mains gas as a primary heating system such as those with electric, heating oil, LPG or solid fuel heating. Households that only use gas for cooking or secondary room heating can still apply.

Eligibility criteria include households within priority neighbourhood areas. More widely, this caters to households with an income of £36,000 or less per year or in receipt of means tested benefits with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D,E,F or G (D or E in private rental). It will prioritise the most energy inefficient households. 

For more information on the grants, including the full eligibility criteria, eligible postcode areas or to apply, visit the County Council's Green Living Leicestershire site. See the external links section at the bottom of the page. Or you could call project delivery partner YES Energy Solutions on 0330 912 6199, who can support residents with their applications. 

Green Living Leicestershire Energy Company Obligation (ECO 4) 

Qualifying householders can access funding to upgrade heating or improve home insulation through the government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme. ECO is a requirement placed upon energy companies to help improve the domestic energy efficiency of lower income homes. The scheme runs until 31 March 2026.

Leicestershire authorities are working together to widen access to this funding. There are several routes of eligibility for ECO funding. Please visit the link at the bottom of the page to find out more.

ECO grants are primarily directed at owner occupier homes with Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) in bands D,E,F & G. Eligible households must be in receipt of qualifying benefits, or on a low income (less than £31,000 per year).

Find ways to save energy in your home and check your eligibility by following the Simple Energy Advice link at the bottom of this page. 

Flexible Eligibility

Flexible Eligibility or ‘ECO Flex’ is designed to allow Councils to set criteria to assist those who would fall outside of the normal benefit criteria but may still need financial assistance to make heating their home more affordable. This eligibility route is only applicable to private sector housing meaning those who rent privately or own their home.

Blaby District Council is utilising Flexible Eligibility to support low income or vulnerable households to access energy efficiency improvements via ECO funding and participates in a joint Statement of Intent with Leicestershire authorities which sets out the eligibility criteria.

Details of this scheme including the Statement of Intent published by Leicestershire County Council can be found at the ECO link at the bottom of the page:

HERO - Home Energy Retrofit Offer

Eligible residents living in energy inefficient homes can receive tailored support via home visits to access grant funding or assess their homes to identify suitable improvements.

The scheme aims to support residents to have the knowledge and confidence to improve homes, affordable warmth and cut carbon emissions. The service will be promoting retrofit of homes and providing advice at events across the county through to March 2025.

To find out more visit the HERO Webpage (see link below) or telephone the Warm Homes service on 0116 305 2524.

Warm Homes

Leicestershire County Council offers the Warm Homes advice service.  

They can help with:

• Home improvement grants
• Tariff advice
• Energy debt advice
• Energy efficiency advice
• Benefit checks
• Insulation grants

They have a comprehensive advice booklet which provides an overview of top tips to reduce heating bills and maintain affordable warmth, advice on grants, benefits and keeping your home fit for winter as well as a range of useful resources for further reading.

Check out their website for lots of useful information and you can sign up for their warm homes newsletter (see link at the bottom) which will also advise of any future funding. 

Telephone: 0116 305 2524

Boiler Upgrade Scheme 

The Government is providing grants to encourage property owners to install low carbon heating systems such as heat pumps and biomass boilers, through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS).

Grants of up to £6,000 are available to subsidise the upfront cost of low carbon heating technologies. 

The scheme is open to domestic and small non-domestic properties in England and Wales. It runs from 2022 to 2025. 

For more information on this, you can visit the Ofgem website (see link at the bottom of the page). 

Green Energy Switching

• Join our big community Switch and Save which gives residents the opportunity to save on their energy bills and go green by switching to 100% renewable electricity
• Find out more about our Blaby Switch and Save service.

There are a number of ways to get help to reduce energy costs:

• Energy efficient tips are available from the Simple Energy Advice Website 
• Information on changing your energy supplier can be found at Citizen's Advice
• Your energy provider can sometimes help you reduce your costs - get in touch with them directly

Website links can be found down below. 

Advice for businesses on reducing energy bills

The Carbon Trust provide information on energy efficiency to businesses with a toolkit for small and medium sized enterprises.