If you can’t afford to stay warm at home, you might be eligible for financial assistance.

This page covers the different types of help available, including:

• Benefits and support to maximise your income.
• Grants for energy-efficient home improvements (making your home cheaper to heat).
• Energy loans.

Get help to cover the cost of your energy bills

Maximise your income

If you’re struggling to afford your energy bills, it’s important to make sure you’re receiving all the benefits that you’re entitled to.

£15 billion of benefits go unclaimed each year. It’s worth doing a benefits check to make sure you’re not missing out – it only takes 10 minutes.

Additional support to help with energy bills

You may be entitled to extra help with fuel bills if you’re on a low income or claiming benefits. Schemes include:

• Warm Home Discount
• Winter Fuel Payment
• Cost of Living Payment 
• Council Tax reduction and more.

Your council welfare team and council tax teams can help you apply for household support grants and council tax rebates. You could also get support to reduce your water bills.

Grants for energy-efficient home improvements

Making your home more energy-efficient means it will be cheaper to heat and stay warmer for longer – meaning your energy bills will cost less.

There’s a variety of grants for energy efficiency measures like installing insulation, upgrading your boiler, or switching to a low-carbon heating system.

Eligibility for grants for energy-efficient home improvements

There are different criteria for different grants. They’re based on things like:

• The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of your home (how energy-efficient your home already is).
• Your income.
• Whether you’re on certain benefits.
• Whether you have a health condition.
• Where you live.
• What type of property you live in.
• What type of heating you have.

The eligibility criteria for different grants are listed below. CSE’s energy advice team can also help you to understand if you can access grants for home energy-efficiency improvements.

Funding schemes for energy-efficient home improvements

Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS)

Measures funded:

£7,500 towards an air source heat pump.

£7,500 towards a ground source heat pump (including water source heat pumps and those on shared ground loops).

£5,000 towards a biomass boiler.

Eligibility criteria:

Open to domestic and small non-domestic properties in England and Wales

No income criteria

Current heating system must use oil, gas or electricity.

Find out more and apply here

Connected for Warmth — Insulation

Measures funded:

Loft insulation

Cavity wall insulation

Eligibility criteria:

Homes in council tax bands A, B, C or D

AND an EPC rating of C or below

No income criteria

Your home must be suitable for the measures offered.

Find out more and apply here

Connected for Warmth – Heating

Measures funded:

Air source heat pump

Eligibility criteria:

EPC rating of E, F or G

AND your home is heated by electricity, solid fuels, oil, or LPG

AND you are receiving a means tested benefit

OR you are on a low income and have high energy cost or are vulnerable to the cold because of age, illness, or disability.

Find out more and apply here.

Home Upgrade Grants (HUGs)

Measures funded:

A range of measures including insulation and heating upgrades.

Eligibility criteria:

Only available to off-gas properties (people who do not use mains gas to heat their homes).

EPC rating of D or below.

One of the following must also apply:

You have an annual household income of £36,000 or less – including your partner’s income if you live with them.

Or you are getting a means tested benefit such as Universal Credit or Income Support.

Or you live in certain areas – CSE’s energy advisors can tell you if this applies to you.

Contact your local council to find out if HUGs funding is available in your area. You can also contact CSE’s advice line to find out more.

Energy Company Obligation (ECO)

Measures funded:

Insulation

Boiler upgrades

Solar panels

Air source heat pumps

(You may need to contribute some of your own money towards the overall cost.)

Eligibility criteria:

One of the following must apply:

You are getting a means tested benefit such as Universal Credit or Income Support.

Or you get child benefit and you are on a low income.

Or your annual household income is less than £31,000 and your EPC rating is E, F or G, or D, E F or G if you own your home. If you don’t have an EPC, you may still be eligible if your home needs energy efficiency improvements.

Or you have a severe or long-term health condition, and your EPC rating is E, F or G. If you don’t have an EPC, you may still be eligible if your home needs energy efficiency improvements.

Or you are struggling to pay your energy bills and your EPC rating is E, F or G. If you don’t have an EPC, you may still be eligible if your home needs energy efficiency improvements.

If you don’t meet the eligibility criteria above but you’re on a low income and living in a cold home, you might still be able to access ECO funding.

The scheme aims to improve the least energy-efficient UK homes occupied by people on low incomes or with vulnerabilities. To meet this goal, there’s some flexibility around eligibility for ECO funding, known as ‘ECO4 Flexibility’, or ECO Flex. This allows local authorities to widen the eligibility criteria so that they can refer people who they consider to be living in fuel poverty, on a low income and in a dangerously cold home.

Visit your local authority’s website or contact CSE’s advice line to find out more and apply.

Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS)

Measures funded:

Insulation

Heating controls

Eligibility criteria:

There are two ways you can be eligible:

Low income group:	General group:
EPC rating of D, E, F or G	Homes in council tax bands A, B, C or D.
AND you’re receiving a means-tested benefit.	AND an EPC rating of D, E, F or G.
OR you receive child benefit and are on a low income.

Find out more and apply here.

Energy loans

Work to improve the energy efficiency of your home is often expensive, with high upfront costs. If you can’t completely cover the cost of home energy-efficiency measures through a grant or your own funds, you might consider borrowing money to fund them.

Energy efficiency loans are available in the South West through Lendology, a not-for-private-profit Community Interest Company.

Lendology work with councils in the region to offer low-interest loans to help fund energy-efficiency measures. They will consider your eligibility for a loan and help you decide how much you could borrow and the loan best suited to your circumstances.

The local authorities they work with are:

• Bristol
• Bath & North East Somerset
• North Somerset
• South Gloucestershire
• Somerset (and all the smaller councils that were until April 2023 part of it)
• Wiltshire
• Dorset
• The district councils of Devon.