As the UK accelerates towards net zero, the decarbonisation of our homes has become both a challenge and an opportunity for homeowners and energy companies alike.  

Currently, domestic energy use accounts for roughly 20% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, with the majority of UK homes still reliant on fossil fuel heating – mostly gas – while also suffering from inefficient or insufficient insulation.  

Yet the tools to decarbonise homes – heat pumps, solar panels, insulation upgrades and smart EV charging – are already readily available, along with specialist electricity tariffs from many energy suppliers to underpin them through further money saving.  

Research from our partnership with WWF has shown that a typical UK home can cut its lifetime emissions by up to 96%, slash energy bills by £1,878 a year and add approximately £10,000 in property value when combining these technologies into a single retrofit.  

However, we know from talking to our customers that, more often than not, the upfront cost of many of these technologies can be a deciding factor. That’s why ScottishPower’s solutions can be tailored to each individual customer and their home, regardless of where they are on their decarbonisation journey.  

Smart solutions 

Discounts and promotions of smart solutions like heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and EV chargers are among the current measures we have available to our customers, along with an installation service from our suppliers.  

We’re also sign-posting customers to available government grants such as the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme and are a key delivery partner of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme – a government programme that supports energy efficiency upgrades for low-income and vulnerable households.  

But we know that decarbonisation isn’t only about replacing or installing physical hardware in the home; it’s also about smarter energy use. The installation of a smart meter can open up a number of ways to reduce a customer’s energy bills along with bringing down their carbon footprint at home.   

Customers participating in the programme have changed their habits by saving tasks such as their washing and batch cooking to the weekend, while almost half are confident they’ve reduced their electricity use during peak times.

By helping our customers change behaviours, nudging their electricity usage into greener, off-peak times, we can help customers both save money and reduce their carbon footprint in real time. 

Our Half Price Weekends initiative is doing just that. In fact, we’ve seen those customers who’ve taken advantage of the flexibility offer and shifted their energy usage to off-peak times shave almost £4mn from their energy bills.  

Over 350,000 smart meter customers are already signed up to the programme, which launched last November, and offers half-price electricity every Saturday and Sunday between 11am and 4pm.  

Our research tells us around 80% of customers participating in the programme have changed their habits by saving tasks such as their washing and batch cooking to the weekend, while almost half are confident they’ve reduced their electricity use during peak times.    

Practical everyday changes 

The results speak for themselves – it is clear that it is making a real difference to how and when customers use energy, and it’s a win-win. Customers save money but also help reduce strain on the grid by using power when it’s cleaner and greener.  

For many households, this proves that the journey to net zero doesn’t have to start with grand gestures or big-ticket purchases, but with practical everyday changes. Smarter energy use can be the first step on the road that one day might lead to better insulation, cleaner heating and the adoption of greener transport such as electric vehicles with home chargers and solar panels too.  

Our measures of support are continuously evolving and already demonstrating that helping people cut carbon can go hand in hand with reducing bills and improving lives.  It’s clear that by working together, consumers, energy suppliers and the government can accelerate the decarbonisation of the domestic energy sector and achieve the UK’s all-important net zero targets.  

The views and opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author only and are not necessarily given or endorsed by or on behalf of the Energy Institute.  

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