Following the Warm Homes Plan announcement at the end of January, Andy Sutton at Sero shares his thoughts.
Andy Sutton, chief innovation officer and co-founder at Sero, said:
“At Sero, we’ve worked closely with social landlords for many years delivering programmes such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund, and the Welsh Government’s Nest Warm Homes Programme with British Gas. That experience shows that a well-delivered, whole-home approach can make a real difference for households in fuel poverty
“We therefore welcome the Government’s new Warm Homes Plan. Its long-term certainty is crucial for scaling retrofit across the UK, and its pragmatic mix of insulation and low-carbon technologies, assessed on a whole-home basis, closely reflects the approach we’ve championed for more than five years.
“We’re particularly pleased to see a stronger focus on residents, and the recognition that grant funding alone is not enough. The inclusion of Energy as a Service and blended finance is a positive step towards delivering large-scale retrofit that works for both landlords and households.
“We also welcome the focus on better integration with the electricity grid and the creation of a Warm Homes Agency, while noting the importance of clear delivery and coordination.
“There is still much work to do, but this is an important moment. By aligning around best practice and long-term thinking, the Plan can help lift one million homes out of fuel poverty and strengthen energy security across the UK.
“We look forward to continuing to share our experience and learning through our work with social landlords, our partnerships across Wales and the UK, and our ongoing Energy‑as‑a‑Service projects with landlords and investors.”
Additional thoughts to share, in case you would like to explore this further with Andy in an interview, include – The WHP mentions The Welsh Government’s Nest Warm Homes Programme, which Sero work on with British Gas. It also mentions using Energy-as-a-Service models to fund retrofit. Their approach, too, around the products included in the funding – Solar, Batteries, Heat Pumps with cost-effective insulation measures (essentially Fabric 5th approach), is also what Sero has been doing since the beginning in terms of their retrofit approach. Sero has also done work with Jenny Danson at Healthy Homes Hub and the Retrofit Society (with help from their chair, Laura Sandys) to get the DNO and Landlords sharing their retrofit plans, so they can be more aligned with Network upgrades and overcome some of the challenges landlords face when upgrading homes with heat pumps, etc., at scale.