Hundreds of Milton Keynes homes more energy efficient through Government scheme

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) aims to upgrade social housing so it meets the Energy Performance Certificate C standard.

Figures from the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) show around 281 social houses across the city have received the improvements.

In total 507 measures, including air source heat pumps, heating controls, triple or double glazing and solar PV measures were installed in these households.

Across England, 35,166 households were upgraded, with around 69,516 measures installed.

The most commonly installed measures used were loft insulation, external solid wall insulation and cavity wall insulation.

Peter Smith, the director of policy and advocacy at National Energy Action said: "Energy efficiency measures are cutting energy bills and making homes warmer and healthier places to live, as well as cutting carbon emissions.

"Social housing continues to lead the race as the best tenure for energy efficiency, but with over half a million households in social housing living in fuel poverty in England, there is still a long way to go to make cold, damp and mouldy homes a thing of the past."

A DESNZ spokesperson said: "The energy shocks of recent years have shown the need to go further and faster to upgrade British homes, making them warmer and more efficient, while bringing down bills.

"Through targeted grants, up to 170,000 social housing tenants and households on low incomes in England will be helped to lower their energy bills and improve their homes through measures such as heat pumps and insulation, without households having to financially contribute at all."

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