Agenda item

This report seeks to update the Committee on the energy efficiency measures being delivered within the Council’s housing stock with the support of grant funding that has been awarded to deliver these improvements. Also to inform the Committee of the recent submission to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) by the Council.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Property presented the report which provided an insight into the energy efficiency measures being delivered to Council tenants. The measures were being delivered through two grant funds and are key for assisting residents in relation to increasing utility costs.

The Local Authority Delivery Phase 2 was match funded for improvements of properties over two years and the Council had enabled a drawdown of £770, 800 at present. The Council had delivered improvements to 164 properties, which had been delivered across two main heating types (electric storage heating - 78 installations and air source heat pumps – 86 installations).

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Funding was a bid of over £7 million, which had been submitted. The grant element equalling £3.4 million, if successful energy efficiency works would be delivered on 333 properties.

The timeline from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy would notify the Council by March 2023, if the bid was successful. A further update would be brought back to the Committee when more information was available.

A query was raised on whether the houses fitted with air source heat pumps were proving to be economical to maintain and run.

The Acting Director of Housing confirmed that the air source heat pumps were more efficient regarding the energy they consume to provide heat into the property. A user guide had been shared with tenants due to the air source heat pumps working differently to storage heaters and gas fired central heating systems.

It was hoped that the air source heat pumps would be cheaper and more efficient to run than the systems that had been removed.

One Member raised queries in relation to energy efficiency ratings:

·       Whether the upgrading of 330 properties were ratings informed by the stock condition survey.

·       how the Council could derive costs from the level of detail of upgrades on properties.

·       Whether energy efficiency rating B could be achieved, or whether C (as set out in exempt appendix) was the highest rating achievable.

The Acting Director of Housing responded to the above questions regarding EPC ratings:

·       That all properties identified had an EPC completed alongside the stock condition surveys over the past 12-18 months.

·       E-on energy were involved in the bid process and each property identified had bespoke packages identified.

·       The goal rating of C was due to a regulation in the near future where the Council would require all properties to become a rating of C before they could be re-let once void.

·       There were cost floors within the bidding system which prevented the Council to spend more than £18,000 per property in energy efficiency improvements.

Further clarification was sought on the properties that had experienced heating upgrades:

·       Whether the heating was more expensive prior to the upgrades.

·       Whether the previous means of heating was coal or solid fuel heating.

·       Whether the results and performance of the upgrades and systems would be reviewed on a long-term basis through surveys.

·       Whether housing stock report would include insulation of properties on the Council’s housing stock.  

The Acting Director of Housing confirmed that the replacements completed under the LAD2 funding was the installation of electric storage heaters, which were from off-grid gas properties. The air source heat pumps used for upgrades tended to be solid fuel installations.

As part of the stock condition survey, all current insulation mechanisms within properties were quantified. A full EPC was also undertaken on all of the Council’s properties when the stock condition was completed meaning any additional insulation requirements could be easily identified.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Property agreed that a review of the performance of air source heat pumps installed in Council properties would be beneficial.

ACTION: For a review on the performance of air source heat pumps to take place in the near future.

(The Chairman adjourned the meeting for 5 minutes)

It was proposed, seconded and AGREED:

That the Committee:

1.    Noted the final position with regard to the delivery through the Local Authority Delivery scheme (LAD2) grant funding within the Council’s social housing properties.

2.    Noted the grant funding submission to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) to further support delivery of energy efficiency measures for the next two years.