CESP scheme helps halve heating bills in Liverpool households

Published by 24publishing for Riverside Group in Environment and also in Housing

Households in Liverpool are finding their heating bills have been cut by up to half thanks to environmentally friendly home makeovers.

As part of a national initiative, which is expected to deliver up to £350m of efficiency measures and reduce CO₂ emissions by 2.9m tonnes, social landlord Riverside secured £1.6 million Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) funding and contributed £580,000 of its own money.

In partnership with Warmer Heating and Valueworks, Riverside has used the money to make improvements to over 300 homes in Anfield and Breckfield in a bid to assist its customers to reduce their household fuel consumption.

The works included cavity wall insulation, upgraded central heating systems, improved loft insulation and draught proofing measures.

Lillian Parry from Coniston Street was one of the first to benefit from the improvements. As a result she can expect to save an average of £520 per year.

She said: “The minute temperatures started to drop, you’d feel it. Last winter it was bad, it was really cold. You’d put the heating on and it had no impact, it was escaping through drafts under the doors.

“Now you put the heating on and the house stays warm. If you leave it on it can actually get too warm and you have to turn it off, which I’ve never been able to do before.

“Before, I was spending about £20 a week on heating but it’s now down to about £10”.

Riverside’s Project Manager Carl Henderson, who is responsible for the improvement programme, added: “Over the past five years almost £250 million has been invested into our homes, resulting in more than 95% of them meeting the Decent Homes Standard.”

Riverside’s Affordable Warmth Officer Catherine O'Donnell added: “While cavity wall insulation is not a requirement under the Decent Homes standard, we are committed to improving our homes so they are decent, modern and warm. In addition to reducing carbon emissions, we hope the improvements will help reduce fuel poverty.”