Vulnerable homeowners in Renfrewshire are to benefit from £1.2million of funding to help heat their homes.

Renfrewshire has been awarded the grant from the Scottish Government’s £60million Home Energy Efficiency Programme for Scotland: Area Based Schemes (HEEPS:ABS) for 2015.

The £1.2million HEEPS:ABS funding will go to Renfrewshire Council and local housing associations to offer support to vulnerable and fuel poor home owners in making improvements to their home such as external wall insulation.

fuel poverty

The funding adds to a wide range of initiatives already being run by the council to help the people of Renfrewshire tackle fuel poverty.

Councillor Tommy Williams, Convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Housing and Community Safety Policy Board, said: “Sadly far too many people in Renfrewshire are struggling to heat their homes and pay their bills. This council is committed to supporting the most vulnerable members of our communities and tackling the causes of fuel poverty.

“We are working on a number of projects to help both tenants and residents to reduce their heating bills and make their homes more energy efficient and this funding will add to the range of support we are able to offer private home owners. Over the next few months we will be working with our partners to identify suitable projects.”

As part of the council’s efforts to make homes more energy efficient, thousands of council tenants have already benefitted from external improvements such as over-cladding and new roofs as part of the £138million Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) programme.

Nearly 500 families in Paisley will also benefit from cheaper fuel bills thanks to an innovative project to replace a 1960s District Heating Scheme with a state-of-art a biomass boiler system.

A new advocacy service has also been set up by the council to help families tackle fuel poverty. In the last three months, Energy Advice Renfrewshire has already generated a total annual energy bill saving of £33,000 across 130 families.

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