Programme kicks off to boost energy efficiency of hundreds of homes and help cut bills

Exciting news this Big Energy Saving Week! Work to make more than 200 FCHO-owned homes more energy efficient and help cut customers’ gas and/or electric bills by up to a third is getting started.

This is an important step forward in our plans to make existing properties more energy efficient and decarbonise our homes, and it’s just the start. We are delivering improvements to a further 3,800 homes over the next five years to improve the lives of local people.

Kicking off this week we are working with our contractor Connolly on our initial retrofit programme, which will be completed between now and June this year at properties across Oldham.

In doing so, we will boost homes’ energy performance to a minimum of Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C and help customers save money and energy.

Once work is complete, we predict that households could see a 30% reduction on their energy bills and save a combined 225 tonnes of carbon per year going forward - that’s the equivalent of planting 9,000 trees a year to offset emissions.

Energy saving improvements planned at the properties include cavity wall, loft insulation, new windows and doors; and solar panels. Measures will be carefully tailored to the needs of each home involved in the project, to make the biggest impact on energy consumption.

The scheme of green upgrades will go towards achieving the sustainability targets that we have set in our Big Plan and Sustainability Strategy. The investment has been made possible thanks to a £1million grant from the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), which aims to bring social housing stock currently below EPC C up to that standard, and we have also made a £600k contribution.

Steve Mather, our Director of Assets and Sustainability said:

“I’m delighted to see work start on our first project of this scale to increase energy efficiency of existing homes and it’s a key milestone in our sustainability journey.

“Thank you to all our customers who have engaged with us in recent months and helped us to identify homes where improvements are needed.

“This programme will help us deliver energy efficient homes, help reduce carbon emissions, assist those at risk of fuel poverty, support green jobs and provide warm, comfortable homes that are fit for the future.

“We know how important enhancing the energy performance of our homes is and we will be rolling out similar improvements to thousands more homes in the years ahead - helping us reach net zero carbon targets, deliver cost saving benefits to customers and ensure we continue to provide high quality, safe, sustainable homes.”