A couple are reaping the rewards of energy-efficiency improvements on their bungalow following works on their home.
James, 84, and Catherine Sait, 82, appreciate retrofit works completed on their home which will help with their energy bills.
After being retrofit-assessed to find out if they were suitable for the upgrades and getting the go-ahead, the couple who live in their bungalow in Highbridge, Somerset have already seen their bills decrease following the works.
Our resident, James Sait, said: “The works we’ve had here have been great, especially the tradesmen who did the insulation in the loft, it was very clever. They boarded the loft so it could take the necessary information from the panels on the roof, and I would have employed them any day of the week.
“This has made a fantastic difference to us, it’s nearly halved our fuel bill in such a short space of time so we’re very pleased with it.
As part of our Cby28 programme, which aims to bring all of our homes to EPC C or higher, LiveWest continues to improve the energy efficiency of our homes.
This is part of the Government's Social Housing Decarbonisation Funding where homes had a variety of programmed works which involved the installation of solar panels to the roof which have been wired to hot water cylinders, loft insulation and ventilation upgrades and high heat retention storage heaters if the property has them.
James said: “LiveWest organised it all and the contractors have completed the work which we appreciate very much so it couldn’t be better.
“We don’t have to do anything differently to what we were doing before but the energy bills have reduced significantly to what we were paying before.
Solar panels have been installed on the roofs of the back of homes with residents having noticed savings of over £20 in the first quarter with any excess electricity generated sent back to the grid.
As well as this work, we are going one step further with the project and aiming to make sure residents’ budgets for their bills go further as windows and doors are being replaced too as part of planned work starting this year and following on into next year.
James and Catherine should see these benefits, particularly with their outdoor pets.
James added: “We have a fishpond that has to be on twenty-four-seven because with the water in there, they need all the oxygen they can get so it’s never switched off unless of course, we have a power cut.
“It's really important that housing associations make this investment, we requested this years ago, but we were told it couldn’t be done then so it’s amazing it’s taken place.”