Warm Homes Plan Aims To Cut Bills And Tackle Fuel Poverty

The government has launched a £15 billion Warm Homes Plan, described as the biggest public investment in home upgrades in British history, aimed at cutting energy bills, tackling fuel poverty and accelerating the rollout of low-carbon home technologies.

According to Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the plan is intended to support upgrades in up to 5 million homes by 2030, with the government stating this could help lift up to one million families out of fuel poverty and save households “hundreds” on energy bills through measures such as insulation, solar panels, batteries and heat pumps.

The announcement sits alongside other measures referenced by government, including an average £150 reduction in energy bill costs from April and the £150 Warm Home Discount for around 6 million households.

What The Plan Includes

The government sets out three main strands:

• Direct support for low-income households: a £5 billion package for free upgrades, tailored to a home’s suitability. Examples given include fully funded rooftop solar and battery installations and wider-area upgrades for social housing.
• An offer for all households: government-backed low- and zero-interest loans for technologies including solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, and a continued £7,500 heat pump grant. The plan also references an offer for air-to-air heat pumps, which can provide cooling as well as heating.
• New protections for renters: the government says it will update protections and introduce rules intended to ensure landlords invest in upgrades that cut bills for private and social renters, with an ambition to lift an estimated half a million families out of fuel poverty by the end of the decade.

Delivery And Next Steps

The plan includes creating a new Warm Homes Agency to simplify access to advice and installations by bringing together functions currently split across government and other bodies. Ofgem said its experts will transfer into the new organisation to support delivery of energy efficiency schemes.

The government also links the plan to standards for new homes, stating that solar panels will be “as standard” and that the Future Homes Standard is due to be implemented in early 2026.

In announcing the plan, Keir Starmer said it should make warm, affordable homes a “basic guarantee”, while Ed Miliband said the investment is intended to “wage war on fuel poverty” and improve household security.

Read the full announcement here, with more information about the Warm Homes Discount here.

The Rural Services Network’s Chief Executive, Kerry Booth, recently discussed the government’s Warm Homes Plan on BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today, focusing on what the proposals mean for rural households and communities.

In the interview, Kerry highlighted the importance of ensuring that home upgrade solutions are fit for the realities of rural housing, where properties are more likely to be older, harder to insulate, off the gas grid, and located in areas with constrained electricity network capacity. She emphasised that successful delivery in rural areas will depend not only on funding, but on developing the right skills within the rural economy, particularly for measures such as insulation, heat pumps and other low-carbon technologies.

Kerry also underlined the need for a more resilient and future-proofed electricity network, so that rural homes can fully benefit from electrification and clean energy technologies without placing additional strain on already limited infrastructure.

Listen back: The programme is available on BBC Farming Today here for a limited time and the segment starts at around 8.50.