Drive to cut down energy costs

Now islanders have the opportunity to exploit this funding pot and improve their homes at no cost to themselves.

‘Insulation King’ will be working in the Islands over the next year to raise awareness about the scheme and offer this free-of-charge service.

Explaining how it works, Managing Director of Insulation King, Sean Ronnan, said: “We insulate people’s property, completely free of charge, it’s a government scheme which has been going for about three years, that offers free insulation to homeowners and tenants - every house type.”

The company have already insulated over 2,000 properties in the last year. The scheme developed off the back of carbon reduction targets, as countries must reduce their carbon output by 2050, or face hefty fines. In an effort to meet this target, and avoid the fines, in the UK a pot of funding has been available by the government to aid homeowners in improvements to energy efficiency such as insulation.

Sean added: “This is good for us as it creates jobs and it is good for the homeowners as they will have lower energy bills. It is completely free to all.”

There are two different types of funding: CERO which is for any household regardless of working situation or tax band. Under the CERO scheme the company recently insulated an eight-bedroomed mansion - there is no set limit to house size. The HHCRO scheme is for people on benefits or tax credits, or in social housing with an EPC rating of less than E.

Depending on the size of house and location the work takes from 1 to 2 days to complete. The company go out to households and conduct a survey to see what is required.

Insulated areas are plastered and finished and the work is fully certified by a government body STROMA.

Insulation King has an internal quality control system, with an independent company checking a percentage of households to verify the work. All in all there are three stages of inspection for quality control.

To contact the Insulation King team, who can provide more information about the scheme, call freephone on: 0800 002 9032 or email: [email protected]

Over the next 12 months the company may also be able to offer work to Island tradesmen - particularly those with a background in plastering and insulation - to find out more contact Sean via: [email protected]