Round-up of household energy support

With energy prices rising drastically, here’s our monthly reminder of sources of local support to improve home draughtproofing and energy efficiency or get help with energy bills.

 

Warm Home Check Service

This free service, run by Citizens’ Advice and East Sussex County Council, can help make sure you’re getting the financial support that’s available to keep warm. It offers telephone advice for East Sussex residents including money-saving advice and tips. It also provides eligible households with a holistic home energy efficiency assessment. Find out more here.

 

Help with living costs, including energy

The Household Support Grants scheme offered by the district council has now stopped, but Lewes District Council has extensive sources of help, including help with water bills and food. Find out more here.

 

Ovesco Energy Champions

Local community energy company Ovesco has trained Energy Champions to advise on a range of energy issues including: making sure you are getting the best deal for your energy needs; insulating your home; and energy benefits and advice for those in debt. See more including upcoming local energy advice events here.

Green Home Grants

Lower-income households can apply for financial help to retrofit their home to make it warmer or more energy efficient. Grants can be used to help with insulation, heating (excluding gas/oil boilers), replacement of single glazed windows, heating controls, ventilation, hot water systems, solar PV and lighting.

Under the first scheme, referrals had to be received by 31 March 2022. It is still worth applying, because there will be a new round of funding, which will be announced soon. Learn more and apply here.

 

Warmer Sussex

Warmer Sussex, part of RetrofitWorks , a not-for-private-profit cooperative of retrofit experts, offers a one-stop home retrofit service. This includes offering to help create a retrofit plan for your home, getting quotes from vetted contractors and checking that all work undertaken meets quality standards. It has a free Plan Builder on its homepage that you can use to help decide what are the most effective measures to take to reduce your home energy use. Check out Warmer Sussex here.

 

Draughtproofing skills workshops

Olivier Sauer, a local eco-builder (http://lewesbuilderdecorator.co.uk/) who has provided draughtproofing services via Transition Town Lewes for many years, is keen to share his skills with other builders and DIY people. He is available to run workshops addressing any of the following topics:

• Ventilation
• Cold surfaces
• Draughts through windows and floors (including skirtings)
• Secondary glazing
• Insulation
• Thermostats

If you do small-scale building work for householders, or want to do more in your own home, contact Olivier on olivier.sauer@gmail.com Workshops can be on Saturdays at 2pm or some weekday evenings at 6pm, depending on when people can attend.

 

Magnetic-strip secondary glazing video

Olivier Sauer (above) can help with training on making and installing low-cost ‘magnetic strip’ double-glazing, which can be put up in winter then taken down and stored away as the weather gets warmer. Invaluable help on the topic is also provided by Lewes’ Jill Goulder in her YouTube video, which has been watched and liked by viewers around the world (click on image below). To view a pdf guide click here.

 

Online Eco Open Houses: Insulation & Draughtproofing webinar

Finally, the excellent webinar that Transition Town Lewes held as part of its Online Eco Open Homes Festival last year features Lewes householders with a range of different properties explaining the measures they’ve taken over the years to reduce draughts and cut down the heating bills. Watch it below: