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Trial In Birmingham, UK To Cut Off Gas Supplies

6TH-AUGUST-2022

In East Birmingham hundreds of council tenants will start to save on energy bills and reduce their carbon emissions in new trial plans. The council tenant’s will get heat pumps, insulation, new windows, new doors and much more in the largest pilot trial of its kind in England, UK. If they accept to try the trial they will have to have their gas supplies cut off. A total of 300 homes out of 60,000 homes in Birmingham City Council lets out are included in the new trial.

The Birmingham City Council tenants will receive a package of services called a ‘Comfort Plan’ which will typically include:

  • Insulation of walls, wrapping the outside of the property
  • New windows and doors
  • New roof cartridge with integrated photovoltaic panels and energy production equipment
  • Heat pump and heat production equipment
  • Digital monitoring equipment and sensors
  • Mechanical air ventilation system and heat recovery

The gas supply to the house will be removed from any gas appliances and will be replaced with electric ones. The changes are expected to significantly reduce energy consumption with tenants to see an overall saving in their fuel bills of around 15%. Tenants will have to pay a “comfort charge” and an electricity bill but added together they will be around 15% cheaper than a normal gas supplied property. The comfort charge will allow the council to invest money to similarly adapt more homes in the near future.

Leader of BBC Ian Ward said: “These 300 properties are just the start of our ambitious plans to ensure that all of our housing stock is carbon neutral by 2030. The council has a large estate consisting of over 60,000 homes and the delivery of the 3 Cities Whole House Retrofit Pilot presents us with a great opportunity to progress towards our net zero carbon ambitions.”
“This exciting pilot will also make a significant contribution to economic recovery and growth through creating employment and skills opportunities for local businesses and the local community. The economic and health benefits this can bring to the city in the future are considerable but we need to support a us transition which brings everyone with us.”