Britain's biggest public investment in home upgrades: The Warm Homes Plan

The top line: upgrade up to five million homes, backed by £15 billion. A new Warm Homes Agency will provide guidance and advice to consumers on which measures to install, how to access funding, and strengthen consumer protections - this should go a long way in helping rebuild trust and consumer confidence in retrofit.

For the industry, the government suggests this funding will create 180,000 additional jobs across assessment, heat pump engineering, electrical work and fabric contracting.

By 2030, the market is expected to exceed 450,000 annual heat pump installations, with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme funded to around £2.7bn and grants up to £7,500.

The Plan also introduces low and zero-interest consumer loans to cut upfront costs; The Times likened it to a ‘Netflix-style’ subscription where customers would pay a monthly fee for energy and installation costs.

The Daily Mail took a slightly different angle, splashing ‘Chinese solar panels for all’ on the announcement of the Warm Homes Plan.

The government expects up to three million additional homes with solar panel rooftops by 2030, with battery storage, flexible tariffs and clean heat central to lowering bills.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine exposed how reliant the UK is on international energy, with 86% of households in England using a natural gas-fired main heating system. Increasing rooftop generation and electrified heat is intended to improve resilience and reduce exposure to gas price shocks.

Labour has scaled back on its original plan to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) of EPC C by 2028 for new tenancies. Now, all private landlords in England and Wales will need to meet EPC band C (using two metrics) by October 2030. Like before, this is subject to exemptions but with a reduced cost cap of £10,000 for improvements.

Social housing standards are also being strengthened, but we’re still waiting on an update for similar regulations impacting non-domestic buildings.

And finally, the government expects low-carbon heat networks to meet around seven per cent of heat demand in England by 2035, and 20% by 2050.

Since 2019, almost three-quarters of new properties in London have had heat networks installed. And the government suggests that more than 50% of heat demand in London could be best met by district heat networks.

Zoning, beginning this year, is intended to de-risk schemes by identifying priority areas, alongside strengthened regulation.

With the Warm Homes Plan in place, attention now turns to the anticipated Future Homes Standard, expected to cut emissions from new homes by 75-80%.

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