Golden opportunity to maximise your home’s energy efficiency and insulation with help from the Home Heat Helpline and Care & Repair England

One call to the Helpline could save homes across the UK up to £300 in fuel bills every year

With millions of home owners possibly using the forthcoming Bank Holiday weekend to do some much needed DIY on their homes the Home Heat Helpline and Care & Repair England today urged households to take the opportunity of the long weekend to improve their homes energy efficiency and insulation by making just one simple call to the Home Heat Helpline (0800 33 66 99). By using this time to make sure their house is as energy efficient and as insulated as possible home owners will be reducing heating bills and doing their bit for the environment.

Research carried out by the Home Heat Helpline showed that, while millions of people in the UK have an overwhelming desire to improve their home’s energy efficiency, a large number of people have not taken steps recently to improve their homes. The research showed that whilst 97 per cent of people believed it was important to make their homes energy efficient nearly a third (31 per cent) had not taken any such steps in the last twelve months.

The Home Heat Helpline’s research also showed that some parts of the country are more likely to take steps to improve their house’s energy efficiency or cut electricity use than others.  While in Wales 75 per cent of people have made the effort, only 63 per cent of Londoners did the same. 

Where households are taking steps to conserve energy the research showed that there was a noticeable emphasis on steps that will reduce electricity consumption rather than saving valuable heat in the home.

The most popular steps all related to electricity savings:

• 82 per cent had used energy efficient light bulbs
• 58 per cent had turned off appliances at the wall
• 48 per cent had used economy program when washing clothes

The least chosen steps all related to heating savings:

• 26 per cent had used draft excluders on letter boxes and doors
• 21 per cent had insulated their loft
• 18 per cent had double or triple glazing
• 14 per cent had insulated hot water tanks or pipes

By calling the Helpline households worried about their heating bills can gain advice on ways to cut down on their energy consumption or access possible grants that could help them insulate their home and therefore reduce their monthly energy bills by as much as £300 over the course of a year.

Duncan Sedgwick, Chief Executive of the Energy Retail Association added,

“The Bank holiday weekend has always been a time when home owners get down to some much needed DIY. This long weekend is a golden opportunity to also get their house in order when it comes to making sure their home is as insulated and energy efficient as possible.

“Just one call to the Home Heat Helpline 0800 33 66 99 could help a home owner to access advice and financial support to improve their homes energy efficiency. As a result a typical household could save as much as £300 on fuel bills over the year.”

Sue Adams, Director of Care & Repair England said:

“As well DIY jobs that make our homes look nice it is important to keep properties warm and dry.  A damp home feels colder and is bad for people’s health, so keeping on top of basic maintenance and improving heating efficiency should be a priority”, said Sue Adams, Director of housing charity, Care & Repair England. “For more general repairs and adaptations older people can get help from their local home improvement agency, or might find our free self help guide useful.”

Lisa Dale, Policy and Research Executive for Foundations, (the national co-ordinating body for Home Improvement Agencies) said:

"People in vulnerable groups are particularly at risk of suffering health and safety problems as a result of poorly heated housing, but often don't have the resources to make home improvements themselves. The Government has set a target to increase the number of vulnerable households in the private sector living in decent homes to 70% by 2010, and Regional Housing Boards and local authorities have targeted resources towards meeting this goal. There is also funding available to help people who are suffering fuel poverty and grants from other agencies to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

”Organisations like the Home Heat Helpline are very useful to help determine what assistance is available locally, which can be a confusing and difficult task for individual households. Home Improvement Agencies can help support people through the process of arranging and carrying out work to improve the heating and energy efficiency of their homes, and we are pleased to see that the helpline is used to help housing support professionals too."

The Home Heat Helpline, which is funded by Britain’s energy suppliers, was set up by the Energy Retail Association and aims to help vulnerable customers who have problems heating their home. The Helpline is the only service for all customers who have difficulties with heating their homes or paying for their energy bills no matter who their energy supplier is.  It is staffed by expert advisors, including former health professionals who are trained to give advice on how to stay warm during cold weather. The Helpline can also take calls from intermediaries calling on behalf of vulnerable people, such as friends, family, carers, social workers or health visitors.

To help those worried about heating their homes the Helpline has produced a range of guides for consumers, charities and advice groups. These include digital guides that can be downloaded from the Home Heat Helpline website (www.homeheathelpline.org) which contain information and advice on insulating homes properly; making sure homes are as energy efficient as possible and providing information on how people can register for extra services to ensure they are warm for next winter.

Customers paying for insulation themselves will save £175 over 2 years and a further £370 each year after that, however many vulnerable customers (including older people and those on benefits) can get insulation for free through grants from their energy supplier or from the Government. People who are not eligible for these grants will however be eligible for insulation at much reduced rates through their energy supplier. 

Notes to Editors

Four Communications

0870 420 3245

HHH@fourcommunications.com

Home Heat Helpline

Oliver Wright – 020 7747 5436

oliver.wright@energy-retail.org.uk

• The Home Heat Helpline (0800 33 66 99) operates from Monday to Friday 9am-8pm and from 10am-2pm on Saturday. There is a free minicom number for deaf users (0800 027 2122), and the Helpline also has access to interpreters for those callers whose first language is not English. www.homeheathelpline.org 

• The Helpline is operated by The essentiagroup and is staffed by expert advisers, including former health professionals, who are trained to give advice on how to stay warm during the cold weather. They are also trained and authorised to deal with intermediaries calling on behalf of vulnerable customers, such as friends, carers, social workers or health visitors
  
• The Energy Retail Association was established in October 2003 and is the only dedicated trade association for domestic energy suppliers in the UK. More information can be found at www.energy-retail.org.uk 

• Care & Repair England is a national housing charity aiming to enable older and disabled people live in their own homes in greater comfort and security. They offer a self help guide for older people who need to organise home repairs and adaptations, ‘In Good Repair”. It covers finding the money, getting a good job done and sources of help and advice. Available free: phone 0115 450 6500 or see http://www.careandrepair-england.org.uk/igr.htm

• Foundations is the national co-ordinating body for Home Improvement Agencies in England.
  
  Home Improvement Agencies are local, not-for-profit organisations dedicated to helping older people, people with disabilities, and vulnerable people to live in safety and with dignity in their own homes. Together each year HIAs help over 250,000 people and deliver substantial repairs or adaptations to over 40,000 homes worth over £100 Million.
  
  Foundations has been the Government appointed National Coordinating Body for HIAs since 2000. During this time the profile of HIAs has increased considerably and the geographical coverage of the HIA sector has doubled.

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