Homeowners
Get advice and support for low carbon energy upgrades and energy efficiency measures if you own your home.
Introduction to saving energy at home
In a typical British home up to a third of the heat produced by central heating is lost through the roof, walls, floor and windows. This means a poorly insulated property wastes £1 out of every £3 spent on energy.
Below is advice and support to help you make your home more energy-efficient, reduce energy bills, and upgrade to low carbon and more efficient systems such as solar, heat pumps and electric vehicle charging.
We welcome your input. If you have suggestions for new information or resources, send an email to net.zero@brighton-hove.gov.uk.
Ways to make your home more energy efficient
Help with bills and energy-saving tips
- get help with energy bills and advice about how to save energy and check if you can get a discount on your energy bills
- find out what actions you can take now to make your home more energy efficient on the gov.uk website
- find out how to switch your energy supplier and what help is available to save money on energy bills for people in Brighton & Hove on the BHESCo website
- get one to one energy advice from Energyworks in Brighton & Hove
- contact the energy advice service at Citizens Advice for problems to do with your energy bills or energy supply
Home improvements
- visit our how to be energy efficient at home page for advice on how to become more energy efficient, how to get a free smart meter, and help for homeowners to save energy
- find ways to save energy in your home on the gov.uk website to improve your home and make it cheaper to keep warm
- read the guide produced by Cambridge City Council which explores how to retrofit different types of properties
- learn more about low and zero carbon technologies for heat and power
- find out which technologies may be suitable for your home and get an online assessment with the Go Renewable tool
- book a home energy survey with BHESCo
Choosing a qualified contractor
PAS standards
The Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2035 is the British Standard for whole house retrofit, designed to ensure best practice and improve energy efficiency in housing.
The PAS 2030 certificate verifies that installers are competent in carrying out energy efficiency measures within retrofit projects.
Find out more about the PAS standards on the National Energy Foundation website.
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is an independent certification scheme that provides quality assurance for renewable energy installations.
Find out more about the MCS quality mark and the technologies it covers.
Trustmark
Look out for Trustmark registered installers.
Trustmark offers support for traders to be accredited for installing energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating.
Older and conservation properties
If you live in an older home, listed building or conservation area, see Historic England’s guide to how to save energy in an older home and more specific guidance on heat pump and solar PV installations. Historic England also provides pre-application advice to homeowners in relation to Grade I and II* listed buildings.
Phone the technical advice line for free and confidential advice about technical enquiries relating to traditional buildings (e.g. those constructed with bungaroosh).
The Heritage Team in the Planning Department of the council has also produced a guidance note on improving energy saving and sustainability in conservation areas and listed buildings. This is in line with Historic England’s latest guidance.
Insulation
Installing insulation or draught-proofing will prevent heat loss and save energy and money. Find advice on how to insulate your home on the Energy Saving Trust website.
Solar panels
Find out if solar panels are right for your home, how they work, and how to get them installed in the guide to solar panels on the Energy Saving Trust website.
Check to see if you need planning permission for installing solar panels on your home.
Get an estimate of how much electricity your roof might be able to generate on the arcgis website (click the layers symbol and select 'Sussex rooftop PV potential view').
Under the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) you will be paid for every unit of electricity that you feed back into the grid.
Find out more about the SEG on the Energy Saving Trust website.
Heat pumps
- check if a heat pump could be suitable for your home on the gov.uk website
- visit a heat pump near you and see how they work in real homes through nesta’s visit a heat pump scheme
- find out how heat pumps work and how to get them installed in the guide to heat pumps on the Energy Saving Trust website
- to help you make informed choices, Get a Heat Pump guide on the Nesta website
- explore the new BBC radio series Heat pumps in the home.
Replace your boiler with a heat pump
Find a qualified installer to replace your boiler with a heat pump on the gov.uk website.
More information about getting a qualified installer and what to look for is on the MCS website. MCS sets, defines and maintains the standards for low carbon energy technology products, contractors and their installations. This includes heat pumps, biomass, small wind and battery storage.
If you live in an older home, listed building or conservation area, see Historic England’s guide on how to find the right professional help.
Find more information, resources and guidance about how to get a heat pump to help you make well-informed choices, on the Get a Heat Pump website.
Heat pump case study
Find out from a Hove resident what it's like to install and live with a heat pump.
Local Energy Advice Partnership (LEAP)
LEAP is a free service that helps people keep warm and reduce their energy bills without costing them any money.
LEAP works in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council and can:
- give practical advice on heating systems and saving energy
- fit a free energy-saving kit in your home, like lightbulbs and draught-proofing
- check if you're eligible for insulation or a new boiler
Your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
An EPC helps you understand the energy performance of your home. If you’re looking to sell or rent your home, you need a valid EPC before it goes on the market.
In January 2026, the government announced that by 1 October 2030 landlords must ensure that their properties have at least an EPC rating of C, whether it is a new or ongoing tenancy, or risk facing financial penalties of up to £30,000.
EPCs will move away from a single rating to four standards: energy cost, fabric performance, heating system and smart readiness. This is likely to occur in the second half of 2027.
This shift will enable homeowners to:
- Assess future energy bills, helping them avoid homes with hidden financial burdens (energy cost)
- Judge upgrade needs such as insulation more accurately, especially before considering upgrades like heat pumps (fabric performance)
- Understand the efficiency and environmental impact of the home’s heating system (heating systems)
- Have a forward-looking view of the property’s adaptability as technologies such as smart thermostats, demand response heating systems, or electric vehicle charging optimisation evolve (smart readiness)
See this useful guide to EPCs on the Energy Saving Trust website and find your property’s latest energy certificate on the gov.uk website.
Community Energy and Retrofit
- find out more about the community energy business model on the Brighton Energy Co-operative website
- get support to start a community-led retrofit project and find out what’s involved on the Centre for Sustainable Energy website
- find out how to partner with BHESCo to develop locally owned solar power systems through the Solar Power Communities initiative
Electric vehicles
Choosing an electric car or van can help you save money and improve air quality.
Learn more about the different types of electric vehicle, how they work and the benefits of owning one in the Energy Saving Trust’s electric vehicle guide.
Find out about electric vehicle (EV) charging in Brighton & Hove, charging point locations and how to request an EV charging bay in your street. If you own a flat, there’s an electric vehicle chargepoint grant for flat owners and renters to help towards the cost of installing an off-street electric vehicle chargepoint socket at eligible properties.
In Brighton & Hove, 77% of residents with no off-street parking now live within a 5-minute walk of a public charge point which is one of the best rates in the country.
If you have off-street parking, you can install an EV charging point at home. Some of the most popular options on the market come with smart charging, allowing you to take advantage of cheaper electricity rates overnight.
Adapting to climate change
Extreme heat
Find out how to keep your home cool in extreme hot weather with the Overheating Adaptation Guide for Homes from Shade the UK and the Red Cross.
Funding opportunities
Boiler Upgrade Scheme
You could get a grant to cover part of the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating systems such as gas or oil-fired boilers.
There are grants available of:
- £7,500 for air source heat pumps or ground source heat pumps
- £5,000 for biomass boilers
- £2,500 for an air-to-air pump or heat batteries
Find out more about low and zero carbon technologies
Apply for the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme
The ECO scheme is an energy efficiency scheme that places legal obligations on energy suppliers to deliver energy efficiency and heating measures to low-income, vulnerable and fuel-poor households.
There is a flexible eligibility component of ECO that allows councils to engage with energy suppliers to refer households that are low-income, vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home, or fuel poor.
Households must meet the published eligibility criteria. The scheme offers a variety of fully funded energy efficiency measures. All measures are subject to the property having a satisfactory survey and being technically and financially feasible within the programme.
Find out about ECO and how to apply.
Zero and low interest loans
In January 2026, the government announced it will be introducing new no interest or low-interest consumer loans, backed by government funding through the Warm Homes Plan.
These could be used to fund the installation of a single technology or package of measures, including solar panels, batteries and heat pumps.
Further details will be published later in 2026.
Once the scheme is established, we will provide a link to further information, including a list of participating lenders.
EV charging point grants
There is an electric vehicle charging point grant for flat owners and renters to help towards the cost of installing an off-street electric vehicle chargepoint socket at eligible properties.