Tebay resident saves hundreds on energy bills after warm homes upgrade
Residents in 70 homes managed by Eden Housing Association are now benefitting from warmer homes and lower energy bills
Energy efficiency upgrades at dozens of homes across Cumbria are being praised for saving residents hundreds of pounds on their annual energy bills.
Resident Frank Storey, who’s been living in his Tebay property for 14 years, has noticed such significant savings that he’s built up £500 credit in his energy account over the past few months.
Previously fitted with electric storage heaters, Frank’s home is now kept warm with an air source heat pump.
Solar panels were also installed to provide a source of renewable energy.
Additional to the financial benefits, the change has transformed his experience in his home where the warmth is more evenly distributed and he has a more reliable source for warm water on cold mornings.
Frank said: “Probably the biggest thing that we love is hot water in the morning.
“You get up in the morning, having washed, and there’s hot water coming out of the tap.”
Watch our short video to hear more from Frank, including how he found the installation process and what the biggest difference is.
Frank said: “We’re confident money-wise, we’re confident heat-wise. There’s no bad news really.”
Due to a technical fault, there is a slight issue with the audio in this video for which we apologise.
The upgrades at Frank’s property form part of a 993-home delivery programme for a multi-member consortium led by Westmorland and Furness Council.
The consortium was awarded more than £5 million to complete this through the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1 work, with Eden Housing Association awarded £728,000 of this.
Funding for this scheme is delivered on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and assured by our teams at Salix.
The programme was delivered in partnership with South Lakes Housing Association, Lune valley Rural Housing Association, Progress Housing Group and Westfield Housing Association.
70 Eden Housing Association-managed homes were upgraded through the scheme.
Matt Lyons, asset manager at Eden Housing Association, said: “As an organisation, we initially got involved in the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Wave 2.1 because of the funding opportunities.
“The opportunity to improve our homes was something we couldn’t pass up.”
Watch our short video with Matt to learn more about the organisation’s strategic drivers for this work, the importance of quality engagement with residents and how this work will act as a blueprint for future schemes.
Matt said: “What we did for the programme is we did 100 per cent tenant engagement, so we actually stepped foot into every one of our customers homes that was included in the programme and that was really key for us.”
When asked what advice he has for others considering similar works at their properties, Frank said: “Save yourself some money, save yourself £400-500 a year and get it done.”
