The move comes as 11.5% of households in Waltham Forest are classed as ‘fuel poor’, the third highest level in London, reports Sebsastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
Waltham Forest Council will help 50 households to improve their energy efficiency, as it grapples with the third highest level of fuel poverty in London.
Tackling housing emissions – the biggest source in the borough, producing 43.5% – is a “major opportunity” for the council, according to a newly published report.
The town hall aims to use up the remaining £725,000 of the Warm Homes Local Grant (WHLG) by March 2028 to do this.
“As part of this, we will continue to prioritise low-income and vulnerable households for WHLG grants and offer application support via [energy advice charity] HEET where needed,” the report says.
The north-east borough trails behind only Barking & Dagenham and Newham for fuel poverty rates, with 11.5% of households classed as ‘fuel poor’.
That means they are unable to afford to heat their homes to an adequate, healthy temperature.
The rate of fuel poor privately rented homes is even higher, at 28%, and the council says “more needs to be done” to fall below the London average of 9.6%.
Generating interest from private landlords is “key,” the council says, but is proving challenging.
“This is a challenging area as landlords have limited incentives compared to owner-occupiers,” the report adds.
A pilot trial with the retrofit company Domna received interest from more than 300 landlords, but the council expects to only upgrade between 10 and 15 private homes by March.
Across all council projects to lower bills and improve domestic energy efficiency, a total of 5,689 homes have been improved since 2012.
By the end of the programme, Waltham Forest will have invested £3.4million into 225 homes.
Officers are also working on tackling overheating in homes, which the report calls a problem of “increasing importance”.
You can read the cited report here
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