"With the recent hike in energy costs, it’s no surprise that our research shows homeowners have an appetite to make changes. However, action is hindered by insufficient information, people, processes, skills and infrastructure to decarbonise homes at the level required"
- Paul Broadhead - BSA
The Building Societies Association has revealed that many homeowners are put off making energy-efficiency improvements to their homes without incentives or better information.
Barriers and incentives
The biggest barriers homeowners cite as preventing them from making changes to improve the energy rating of their homes are meeting the upfront costs (cited by 51%) and thinking it will take too long to recover those costs (51%).
Lack of knowledge is also deterring more than a third of homeowners from making improvements, with 37% saying they don’t know how much money the energy efficiency improvements will save them.
When asked what would encourage them to make changes that would improve the energy efficiency of their home, 57% said a cheaper energy tariff or a lower council tax rate (53%). A cheaper mortgage and evidence that the energy efficiency improvements will add value to the home were also strong incentives at 32% and 38% respectively. 35% said that clearer information and reassurance about the quality of the work (31%) would motivate them.
Action versus intentions
The majority think some energy efficiency improvements will add to a property’s value, such as replacing the windows and doors (76%) and upgrading the central heating system (76%). However, only a small proportion of homeowners have actually made these changes. 18% have replaced their windows and doors and just 14% have upgraded their central heating system in the last 12 months.
More positively, 53% of homeowners confirmed they have made some energy efficiency improvements to their property in the last 12 months, the most popular of which are:
- Replaced lighting with low energy options – 32%
- Changed windows or doors – 18%
- Improved insulation (e.g. roof, loft, windows) – 17%
However, the research highlighted that for some of the more costly improvements, there is a big difference between those who have considered making these changes and those who have actually gone ahead. For example, in the last 12 months:
- 17% have considered installing solar panels, but just 6% have actually done that
- 9% have considered installing renewable energy sources, such as heat pumps, but only 5% have done that
“There is clearly a great deal more to do if the energy efficiency of the 29 million homes in the UK is to be improved sufficiently to meet the UK’s net-zero by 2050 commitment," comments Paul Broadhead, Head of Mortgage and Housing Policy, "With the recent hike in energy costs, it’s no surprise that our research shows homeowners have an appetite to make changes. However, action is hindered by insufficient information, people, processes, skills and infrastructure to decarbonise homes at the level required,"
He added, “We urgently need a Government-led strategy, including details of any incentives, that will give businesses the confidence to invest in building the industry that will be required to support the decarbonisation transition, and which will provide homeowners with access to information that will enable them to plan the best approach for their property with the knowledge and confidence in what it will deliver.”
