Making homes warmer and more environmentally friendly

We’re committed to making the homes we manage easier to heat by making them more energy efficient, helping to keep you warmer in the colder months. We are working towards the goal of all homes we manage achieving an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band of C and above by 2030. To reach this target, we’re focusing on making energy saving and environmentally friendly improvements to homes which are EPC band D to G.

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) lets us know how energy efficient the home is in terms of how much it costs to heat and power the property, with a rating of A being the most efficient and the rating of G being inefficient. Most homes will have an EPC assessment carried out when a new family moves in. You can use your postcode to look up the EPC rating of your home on the government website at www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate. The energy efficiency measures required to improve the EPC rating of a home can vary from one home to another, but these measures can involve renewing double glazing or doors, or insulating lofts and external walls, for example. Once completed, this means residents living in these homes can be warmer during winter as more heat stays indoors.

We want to upgrade the energy efficiency of EPC band D to G homes as fast as we can, so we’ve recently applied for government funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) proposing a range of energy efficient measures for homes of approximately £19m (of which the Government could pay half) to make just over 2,000 homes warmer and more energy efficient. If successful, this funding would support improvements to a selection of homes across Brent and East Herts which have EPC D to G ratings.

Government funding would allow us to bring forward work that might not otherwise happen until 2027 or later. We’re willing to invest substantial amounts of money into making your homes more environmentally friendly and as part of our application for this funding, we’ve committed to match any funding we are given.

Energy efficient homes require less energy to stay warm, so by improving the energy efficiency of the hardest to heat homes, we’re hopeful that they will become cheaper for you to heat. With energy costs rising over the past few months, living in a home that uses less energy to heat up has the potential to make a huge difference, meaning that this target will achieve more than just environmental benefits.

We will be updating you when we know the outcome of our application for government funding in March 2023. In the meantime, we will be surveying the first 1,000 homes which would be upgraded, so please work with our surveyors to arrange your survey if they contact you about this. If we are successful, we will clearly communicate what is involved and when with residents whose homes we propose to work on.

Get involved!

You can join us in making your homes and communities more environmentally friendly, by signing up to be a Sustainability Ambassador. If you’re proud of your community and have some ideas to make it better for the environment, this role will be perfect for you. Find out more and sign up to be a Sustainability Ambassador for your community by visiting the Get Involved section of our website.

Become a Sustainability Ambassador!

Sustainability at Network Homes

More information about energy efficiency and savings

If you’re worried about your energy bills and usage this winter, we have a dedicated section of our website in the advice section which includes information about cost of living, rising energy prices, support available and tips for saving energy to lower the cost of your bill.

You can also find out more about what energy efficiency is and how it relates to your home in a blog written by Tim Meanock, CEO of climate tech company Tallarna.

Check out our cost of living section

Read Tim Meanock’s blog about energy efficiency