Home Energy Advice Taskforce | Zero Carbon Guildford

A cosy home is a healthy home

Over 550 Surrey homes have benefitted from our Home Energy Advice Taskforce visits in 2024. Book yours today!

Reduce Your Bills

Save money on you energy bills, and let our Energy Champions help find you energy efficiency grants

Stay Healthy

A thermally efficient home reduces the risk of damp & mould, lowering the risk of health impacts and relieving pressure on local health services

Tackle Climate Change

Join the 68% of Surrey residents who say action on climate & environment is 'extremely' or 'very important by reducing your home's emission

Support A Local Economy

Our HEAT project has created local energy jobs and upskilled dozens of residents! Email us to get involved.

About the Home Energy Advice Taskforce

We've trained nearly 70 Energy Champions from community groups across Surrey, so that our Home Energy Advice Taskforce (HEAT) Energy Champions can deliver free in person energy visits to their fellow residents!

Our Energy Champions are trained to help their neighbours and communities to reduce their energy bills and find funding for energy efficiency measures, keep their homes warm and cosy to reduce the risk of ill health, and to reduce the carbon footprints of Surrey homes as part of a collaborative goal to tackle climate change.

There are no strings attached. We deliver this service via grant-funding; we have nothing to sell and nothing to gain financially, so we are totally impartial.

Whilst reducing energy costs is the main motivator for a survey, the 2nd most popular reason from 800+ survey applications is reducing emissions, reflecting the 68% of Surrey residents who think it is 'extremely' or 'very' important to take action on climate and environment. You can use this form to request a free in-person energy visit. If you are eligible then a local Energy Champion will visit your home at a time that is convenient for you.

Note: Our Energy Champions are not Retrofit Assessors, they cannot conduct Energy Performance Certificate ratings or provide specific recommendation such as heat pump sizing or make. Our Energy Champions will never solicit a fee, and if someone knocks on your door claiming to be part of the HEAT team, and requesting payment for a survey, they are not part of HEAT.

Visits last 60-90 mins
Thermal imaging during winter
Free remedial measures
Written report & recommendations
Bespoke referrals to further support

Book yourself a HEAT visit today and join the 550 Surrey residents who have taken advantage of this service in 2024.

Our Energy Champion visits last between 60 -90 minutes. They will chat to you about any issues you have, and then conduct a thermal imaging survey with our state of the art cameras. We will then send you a written report with energy saving recommendations and any grant funding we think you're eligible for, and where appropriate connect you with additional support, including up to 5 hours help with funding applications through our HEAT+ partner service.

HEAT is entirely grant funded, so the service is free for any eligible Surrey resident. We have around 485,000 homes in Surrey, and approximately 300,000 of those have energy efficiency ratings of D or below, or no rating at all! That's 2/3 of our housing stock that is thermally inefficient. costing our residents more money, creating a health risk, and generating unnecessary emissions. That's why we set up the HEAT programme, and why we're backed by Surrey County Council and Greater South East Energy Hub to work together as communities and tackle energy waste.

Home Energy Tips

There are lots of sites which can provide general energy saving tips for your home - but not many that help cut through some of the difficulties of your journey to energy efficiency. Below we share some top tips for navigating your retrofit and energy reduction journey, taken from the most common questions we receive.

If you're having major work done, it's always advisable to have a whole house assessment. If you're eligible for Government funding you'll get an assessment as part of the grant, but if not it's worth paying for one.

There are many good energy installers out there - but there are also bad ones. A whole house assessment gives clarity on the impact of work, and most importantly tells you how to avoid future problems. If you go direct to an installer they may just be trying to sell you their services.

This is particularly important when it comes to ventilation. Many homes were built with ventilation plans, and if air flow is interrupted it could cause damp and mould. An example is spray foam loft insulation sprayed between roof rafters - some residents have been refused insurance after this has been installed. A whole house assessment would have warned against the measure!

Installing technology like heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage can save the average resident 30-50% on their annual energy bills! You don't have to do it all at once, and exploring solar means you could then run your heating system from cheap energy.

The Energy Price Cap changes every 3 months - and it's confusing at the best of times. Money Saving Expert updates this webpage every day to tell your whether there are better deals than staying on the standard variable tariff (which the vast majority of us are on).

You can find accredited installers and assessors on Trustmark, and on MCS Certified. There is a severe lack of Surrey based skills in these areas, so you may need to include surrounding counties in your search if results are sparse, and see if the company covers your area.

You could also talk to someone who's had similar measures installed previously. If you can get a recommendation for an installer then you'll feel much more confident in the process.

Retrofit Grants & Support For Surrey Residents

There are several ways to get financial support with energy efficiency grants. Our HEAT surveys can help you find a grant you might be eligible for.

Retrofit grants can be confusing! We've simplified the 4 main government grants in the flow chart on the right. Answer yes or no to the questions to navigate the flow. If you don't make it to a grant, you aren't eligible. If you do end up at the bottom row, it's not 100% guaranteed, but chances are you will be eligible.

Wave 3 of Surrey's successful Solar Together scheme is back. You can save 30-40% on PV purchase & installation, with or without storage battery. Wave 2 was rated 'Very Good' by residents, and saw £9.5m investmenr n solar across Surrey!

The Surrey Energy Advice tool offers you bespoke energy advice based on your circumstances. It can tell you if you're eligible for grants for solar, heat pumps and insulation, how to get fuel vouchers and debt relief, and other schemes you may like.

The HEAT team has secured grant funding for a bulk purchase loft insulation scheme. Surrey residents can apply for free or heavily discounted loft insulation roll which they can then rollout themselves, with a potential payback of less than 12 months!

has a 4.9 out of 5 rating! See what Surrey residents are saying about the service

Many thanks for the report and extra information.

We will definitely be looking into a heat pump, and the tips the surveyor recommended.

Thank you Alice (and Sam!). Really appreciate the visit and follow up report/guidance.

We are now looking into cavity wall insulation through the Great British Insulation Scheme and have an associated survey booked for later in the month.

Thank you so much Alice - this has been great. Dai was awesome too.. what a lovely, friendly guy!

Many thanks for the Home Energy Report – and for Jake visiting us recently, very insightful he was with lots of useful advice of what we can do immediately!

Claudio was wonderful and spent almost 90 minutes examining our house and answering our detailed questions

Many thanks for this detailed report. I have read through the email, email addenda and attachments and now have a clear idea as to the draughts that I can manage myself and feel that I will need to go ahead with the loft insulation in the near future.

I think the first thing I’ve got from it is that the radiators need checking, and thermostatic valves would be a good idea

The report’s v useful for us - confirming a lot of what we suspected. It has stimulated us to get back in touch with a builder we’ve been lining up

Become A Paid Energy Champion!

You can join the HEAT team! Whether you are motivated by a change in career, getting some extra cash, or helping your neighbours and community, you can join our team and get paid to learn new skills!

You'll be trained to visit resident's homes to conduct thermal imaging surveys and help the householder understand their energy use, and provide insight into how they can cut their bills or apply for grant funding.

Becoming an Energy Champion is both fun and rewarding. We aim for high and consistent standards in the service, as well as ensuring the safety of all parties involved is paramount. Therefore, no experience in the energy sector is necessary, but all Energy Champions must complete the following list:

Attend our in-person training course
Complete NEA's Delivering High Quality Energy Advice online course
Complete a Basic DBS check
Sign a Privacy Agreement to protect householder's details
Complete a shadowing course with an experience Energy Champion
Download our Lone Working Safety app

There are no costs for any of this, all training is funded, and we pay for your DBS check.

Get paid £25 per survey completed

Travel expenses covered

Earn money whilst upskilling

Open a door to a career in energy with hands on experience

Help residents cut their energy bills

Work around existing commitments or career

CLICK HERE To Enquire about joining the team today!.png

Find advice from trusted sources such as National Energy Action and Centre For Sustainable Energy

Cavity wall insulation

DOWNLOAD

Condensation, damp & mould

DOWNLOAD

Cold Homes & Health

Draught Proofing

DOWNLOAD

Floor Insulation

Cavity wall insulation

Solid Wall Insulation

DOWNLOAD

How To Read Gas & Electricity Meters

How To Read Your Gas Bill

DOWNLOAD

How to Read Your Electricity Bill

DOWNLOAD

How Much Do Your Appliances Cost

DOWNLOAD

Energy Performance Certificates give you information about the energy performance of you home. They are a legal requirement if you are selling or renting a property. They can be really helpful in understanding energy performance, but they are only as good as the assessor who did them!

The certification process is likely to be overhauled in the next couple of years, due to the wide ranging level of accuracy they produce.

Within the HEAT team we have 3 qualified Domestic Energy Assessors - the qualification that means you can conduct Energy Performance Certifications. Although we have some beautiful houses in the county, Surrey EPCs paint a shocking picture of inefficinecy, with around 2/3 of our homes having a SAP band rating of D or below, or no EPC at all!

If you would like to book an EPC in Surrey then email us today and we'll put you in touch with an assessor: energysurveys@zerocarbonguildford.org

A cosy home is a healthy home

Home Energy Tips

Become A Paid Energy Champion!

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