Ways to reduce your footprint - energy

Energy in your home

Reducing energy use in your home
Saving you money, increases our energy security, and reduces the carbon emissions that is produced from non-renewable sources of energy.

Having an efficient heating system running on a low carbon fuel is one of the most important steps you can take to reduce your fuel bills and your carbon dioxide emissions. If you want to reduce your carbon emissions and keep your energy bills low, installing insulation or draught-proofing will reduce heat loss. Many energy companies are also introducing programs that encourage using electricity during off-peak hours. These programs then pass the savings onto you.

Visit the Energy Trust to find out more information on how to reduce energy in your home.

Home Decarbonisation Service
Wokingham Borough Council has launched a new Home Decarbonisation Advice Service aimed at supporting residents who want to make their home more energy efficient and potentially reduce their energy bills.

This free service allows residents to contact the council to get practical, impartial advice on the changes they could make to their properties. The service will help residents understand how these changes could improve the energy efficiency of their homes and the potential benefits from carbon emissions to financial savings. Click here for more information Home decarbonisation service

Home Upgrade Grant
If you live in an off-gas property, and rely on fuels including oil, coal or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for heating, then you may be able to get free support to make your home more energy efficient. 

The new Home Upgrade Grant (HUG2) is aimed at helping lower income households, living in energy inefficient homes, to improve their property to help make it greener and cheaper to heat.

Improvements would vary depending on the individual property but could include things like insulation upgrades, solar panels, solar hot water and air source heat pumps.

You can find more information and apply at HUG2 Scheme

Solar Together Scheme
If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint and save on energy bills, we have partnered with the Solar Together scheme to make it easier and cheaper to install solar panels.

Solar Together enables residents in the Borough to install solar panels and battery storage at a competitive price through pre-vetted suppliers, which in turn will generate green energy, save on energy bills, whilst supporting our ambition for Wokingham Borough to be carbon neutral by 2030.

This scheme is useful for residents who are looking to get more from the renewable energy they generate as well as increasing their independence from the electricity grid.

You can register your interest for free at Solar Together Wokingham

Solar Together Case study
Mike Bushnell first heard about the Solar Together scheme in one of our email updates and is now recommending it to others.

A resident of Earley, Mike has been concerned about the climate emergency for a long time and he is always trying to take practical steps to be more energy efficient. He says solar panels were 'the next logical step' and he had an eight-panel system and a battery pack installed in September 2023, having registered his interest three months earlier.

Mike said: "Overall, I would say the entire process from start to end was very simple. From first signing up to getting all of the paperwork sorted was very smooth. The installation day itself appeared seamless and was very quick.

"Everything apart from the on-site survey and installation was done via email. Not only would I recommend this scheme to others, I already have. You can download an app to keep track of your system's performance, which I have found slightly addictive."

Although he says the time of year for installation was not ideal, there were still some days where he generated more electricity than he used. During September and October, about half of the energy used was generated from the panels.

As the days begin to get longer again, Mike is looking forward to seeing how much more the system will generate and how much money he can save. If you have been inspired by Mike's story, register your interest with Solar Together Wokingham

Help with your energy costs

If you would like information on the help available for energy bills or costs relating to your home visit our Cost of Living support.