Neath Port Talbot Council is to deliver a £1.7m project to install first-time oil central heating plus energy saving measures into 200 “fuel poor” rural homes unable to access gas supplies in the County Borough.
Funding of £1.1m towards the scheme has come from the Warm Homes Fund (WHF), established by National Grid and administered by community interest company Affordable Warmth Solutions which helps address some of the issues affecting the estimated four million fuel poor households in the UK.
A household is considered fuel poor if it spends more than 10% of household income on energy and if more than 20% of household income goes on energy bills they are deemed to be in extreme fuel poverty.
Jeremy Nesbitt, Managing Director of Affordable Warmth Solutions, said:
“We are excited about this investment from National Grid. Solving the issues associated with Fuel Poverty continues to challenge many of our stakeholders and the feedback we’ve already received provides evidence of how the Warm Homes Fund will make a positive difference to thousands of homes throughout Great Britain.”
The homes which can qualify for grants in the Neath Port Talbot scheme will currently be heated by solid fuel, electric storage heaters or Gas fires – expensive forms of heating which force many families to spend more than they need to on energy.
The aim is to target households and houses with the lowest energy efficiency ratings. These properties will be prioritised along with households that have elderly vulnerable or disabled people living in them.
To qualify for a grant under the scheme your property must be approximately 2km or more from a mains gas supply.
To confirm you are applying for this grant please ensure you speak to a member of staff from Neath Port Talbot Council as there could be other companies and organisations delivering similar grants but they may ask you to make a payment.
The grant offered by Neath Port Talbot Council however is free to home owners and private rented tenants though private landlords will be required to pay a 25% contribution towards the cost of the works. The Council will not be able to offer a grant to tenants of Registered Social Landlords.
If you are interested in applying for one of the grants please complete the form which can be downloaded here by either completing it online and returning or printing it off and returning it to NPTCBC, King Edward House, 110 London Road, Neath SA11 1HL or email to [email protected] If you would like more information on the scheme or obtaining a form you can contact the team on 01639 686440.
Our objective is to increase comfort for households and give them a more affordable and manageable heating system, lowering bills and enabling households to keep warm for less
If you express an interest and are eligible for the grant our team will visit you to go through your options, we will offer advice on ways to save energy and look at other energy saving measures for your home such as loft insulation, draft proofing, we will also look to identify other funding sources to install further energy saving measures where possible.
We will also be working in partnership with Cardiff University and Swansea Bay City deal ‘Homes as Power Stations’ to pilot a retrofit scheme to deliver solar energy along with battery storage facilities for energy generated by the solar Panels and a combination oil / air source heating system, thereby reducing the household energy bill quite dramatically.
Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Sustainable Development, Cllr Annette Wingrave said:
We are delighted to be involved in this project which is designed to make a really positive difference to 200 households currently in fuel poverty.”
