The Government is to make a further £30m available to help make homes in England and Wales more energy efficient.
The latest phase of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund will see households able to access up to £5,600 to pay for measures with £24m earmarked for solid wall insulation and the remainder for measures such as double glazing and new boilers.
It forms part of the £100m boost to the scheme announced in October and will be open to applications from Wednesday.
More than 20,000 households have received help since the Fund was launched in June.
Energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey said: ‘The best way people can cut their energy bills, this winter and every winter, is to improve their homes so that they leak less heat and use less energy. That’s why we’ve increased the funding available for the Green Deal to help even more people start saving money sooner.’
Richard Twinn, policy and public affairs officer at the UK Green Building Council, said: ‘Full marks to Government for listening to industry and making sensible changes to the fund.
‘A more robust application process is likely to result in fewer speculative applications and prevent the feeding frenzy witnessed last summer. Ring fenced funding will also stop the fund being completely swallowed up by the most expensive energy saving measures.
‘However, this is still a finite pot of funding that will create uncertainty for both householders and industry when it inevitably runs dry.’
