The 5-minute guide to home energy grants
Many energy companies are giving away grants to help you save energy (and money!) as part of the Government’s sustainable funding initiative.
These grants are particularly useful if you have a pension and mean you can almost always get useful energy technologies or savings completely free. Take a look at our pick of the top grants you need to know about.
Warm Home Discount
You may be able to receive £140 towards your energy bills up until March 2015 if:
- You were 75 or over and have Pension Credit
- Your name, or your partner’s name, was on your electricity bill.
How does it work?
You should have received a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions before 24 December confirming that you have automatically received your rebate. The payment will be directly applied to your energy account by 31 March 2015. If you have not had a letter through the post, you may still be able to apply. See the First Utility guide for more information.
£300 winter fuel payment
If you were born on or before 5 July 1952, you can grab a tax-free Winter Fuel Payment of up to £300 from the Government.
How does it work?
If you have a state pension, you’re automatically entitled to receive a Winter Fuel Payment. If you’re due an automatic payment, you should have received a letter in September telling you how much you’re entitled to and when. If you don’t have automatic entitlement but think you might be eligible, find out how to claim.
Feed-in Tariff (FITs)
If you install domestic technology that creates electricity, the Government’s Feed-In Tarifs (FITs) mean you could get money from your energy supplier. You’ll be paid for the energy you generate, even if you use it yourself, and for any surplus electricity you donate to the grid.
Domestic technologies include:
- Solar panels (photovoltaic)
- Wind turbines
- Hydroelectricity
- Anaerobic digesters
- Micro combined heat and power (CHP)
Find out detailed information on Feed-in Tariffs from the Energy Saving Trust.
Renewable Heat Incentive
If you take up domestic renewable heat technologies, the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme could reward you with quarterly cash payments.
Eligible technologies include:
- Biomass (wood fuelled) boilers
- Biomass stoves with integrated boilers
- Ground to water heat pumps
- Air to water heat pumps
- Solar thermal panels providing hot water for your home
Rules of the scheme can be found on the Ofgem website.
More ways to save
You could save even more on your energy prices by comparing gas and electricity tariffs to check you’re on the best deal for you. It’s also now faster to switch energy companies, so you don’t have to be stuck on an expensive energy tariff.
Disclaimer
The contents of this article are for reference purposes only and do not constitute financial or legal advice. Independent financial or legal advice should be sought in relation to any specific matter. Articles are published by us without any knowledge or notice of the circumstances in which you or anyone else may use or rely on articles or any copy of the information, guidance or documents obtained from articles. We operate and publish articles without undertaking or accepting any duty of care or responsibility for articles or their contents, services or facilities. You undertake to rely on them entirely at your own risk, and without recourse to us. No assurance of the quality of articles is given or undertaken (whether as to accuracy, completeness, fitness for any purpose, conformance to any description or sample, or otherwise), or as to the timeliness of the publication.
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