Around 300 council houses in Exeter have now been retrofitted to reduce carbon emissions and help residents lower their fuel bills, with the authority aiming to transform all of its properties as part of its ambition to become a net zero carbon city.
Retrofitting involves homes receiving external wall insulation, high performance cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, new double-glazed windows and doors, solar panels, smart meters and upgraded central heating systems.
The work is part of a £2.4m project to help tenants save money and tackle climate change and is being jointly funded by the council (£1.3m) and the government (£1.1m), with the aim to eventually retrofit 4,000 homes.
With fuel bills rising rapidly for households across the country, savings on bills are expected to be between 40 and 70% for tenants in the city.
Commenting, Exeter City Council’s Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Council Housing Development and Services, Councillor Laura Wright said:
“We will retrofit all of our council stock eventually and that’s over 4,000 properties, so it is a really big ambition. But we are on the way towards that already.
“For each property that has been retrofitted, there will be an average reduction of 3.2 tonnes of carbon every year.
“By the end of the year, we will have retrofitted about 360, that’s a carbon reduction of 1,152 tonnes at least and that’s an amazing figure.
“I am immensely proud of what we are doing. We have done it with financial modelling against our maintenance costs, which means that we don’t have to charge the tenants any money towards it.
“There’s no charge to our tenants, just savings for them and a more comfortable home.”
PSE will be hosting a Public Sector Decarbonisation in association with Liberty Charge virtual event on 17 March 2022. Join us for the full day event by registering here.
