Decision details

For Cabinet to approve:

(i)               The ECO Board’s recommendation to streamline three action plans under the ECO Strategy into an Energy Resilience Plan for Wiltshire.

(ii)              An amendment to the Warm and Well Home Energy Efficiency Scheme so that it focuses on providing grants of up to £200 to cover the ‘top up’ payments currently required from vulnerable customers.

(iii)            Delegated authority to the Service Director, Economy and Enterprise, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Waste, Property, Environment and Development Control Services, to extend the Warm and Well Scheme as appropriate, should additional third party funding be made available (e.g. by energy suppliers).

Simplifying the action plan structure for the ECO Strategy will enable easier implementation and monitoring, and shift resources from producing action plans to delivery.

The emergence of Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) funding which is no longer targeted only at the most vulnerable offers an opportunity to alter the current Warm and Well Scheme to assist even more residents in Wilshire.   The proposal will provide assistance that will mean, in most cases, loft and cavity wall insulation will be available for free.

To:

(i)               Terminate the Warm and Well Scheme.  The Council scheme could be ended, leaving the promotion and funding of insulation measures to private companies.  However, the minimum and maximum thresholds would still apply and top up payments would still be required in some cases, including for vulnerable households.  There is no advantage to the Council of this course of action as the grant conditions from the Regional Housing Capital Pot require any unspent funds to be returned.

(ii)              Subsidise all Warm and Well ‘top up’ payments: The Warm and Well Scheme could be used to subsidise the top up payment for both vulnerable people and ‘able to pay’ on a first come, first served, basis.  This could be capped to the value of £200 and would effectively mean that in all but a very few cases, insulation would be offered free of charge.

The ECO Strategy is a framework document which states an intention to develop a number of action plans.  These plans will be the subject of consultation depending on their content.

The proposed changes to the Warm and Well Scheme have been discussed with the management company, Severn Wye Energy, Installer Domestic and General and energy suppliers.  The proposed changes to the eligibility criteria and grant cap has been arrived at following analysis of the scheme’s performance between June 2011 and March 2012.