{"id":105763,"date":"2025-05-16T08:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T08:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/105763\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T08:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T08:12:10","slug":"i-joined-up-to-free-home-upgrade-grant-and-slashed-my-energy-bills-in-half","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/105763\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I joined up to free home upgrade grant and slashed my energy bills in half’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retrofit Action Week encourages people to implement energy efficiency measures in their homes\"KennethKenneth Smith (Left) looking at heat pump cylinder in his Dudley home. PIC: WMCA<\/p>\n

People across the West Midlands have hailed works to improve their homes which have helped them slash energy bills and reduce carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

Residents and tenants said their expectations have been exceeded after having a raft of measures carried out to make properties more energy-efficient.<\/p>\n

They were speaking at Retrofit Action Week, hosted by the West Midlands Combined Authority, which has been taking place this week.<\/p>\n

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The annual online event is dedicated to accelerating the shift to energy-efficient homes with insulation, measures to improve air tightness, ventilation systems and renewables like solar panels and simultaneously to reducing fuel poverty.<\/p>\n

Under the \u00a3167 million devolved energy efficiency funding announced by the Mayor in January \u2013 part of a multi-year funding arrangement for retrofit that only the West Midlands and Greater Manchester have secured from central government – up to 14,000 of the region\u2019s oldest and coldest social and privately-owned homes will be upgraded to make them warmer and cheaper to run.<\/p>\n

West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker said: “This funding from Government will allow us to upgrade homes, colleges and schools – cutting carbon emissions, cutting bills and most importantly, lifting thousands of families out of fuel poverty.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re not just improving homes; we\u2019re improving lives, and building a greener, fairer West Midlands for everyone.”<\/p>\n

Dudley<\/a> homeowner Kenneth Smith said his energy usage and bills have more than halved after he took advantage of a free WMCA Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) for homes not connected to the main gas grid for central heating.<\/p>\n

His home, previously equipped with \u201crather inadequate\u201d storage heaters, had solar panels, a heat pump and loft insulation fitted.<\/p>\n

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He said: “Now I\u2019ve got radiators in every room which is a great improvement. I\u2019ve been monitoring my energy use on a daily basis using the smart energy meter.<\/p>\n

“I didn\u2019t really know quite the extent of the savings. I have to say it\u2019s exceeded my expectations. There was no hassle or minimal hassle.”<\/p>\n

Mother-of-four Mechelle Mellis estimates she is around \u00a330 a month better off since the retrofit of the block of council flats in Hodge Hill where she\u2019s lived for the past nine years, in a partnership between Equans and Birmingham City Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wall and loft insulation, new ventilation systems, solar panels and battery storage have been installed, along with the building\u2019s balconies being enclosed and new gardens created front and back.<\/p>\n

She said: “You don’t need to heat the house up for so long – within five minutes it would heat up. I definitely think it was a lot warmer in the winter.<\/p>\n

She added, as an extra benefit the block \u201clooks much better and safer. Everything needed an uplift.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retrofit Action Week encourages people to implement energy efficiency measures in their homesKenneth Smith (Left) looking at heat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,16,15,17008],"class_list":{"0":"post-105763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-west-midlands-combined-authority"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114516508855457095","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}