Eligibility Criteria
The statements below set out the requirements relevant to the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan. You need to meet these requirements to be eligible for funding under this scheme:
You the applicant:
- Are not applying as or on behalf of a business
- Must notify us immediately of any changes to the details you have provided
- If applying for an interest-free loan:
- You must pass our credit and affordability checks to be offered a loan. Credit and affordability checks will not be carried out for grant-only applications
- You understand we will conduct identification and antifraud checks before releasing any funds.
- You understand that an administrative fee of 1.5% of the total amount, up to £150, will be added to your loan.
The property:
- Must be a residential dwelling in Scotland
- Must not be used as a holiday home or second home
- Must be registered with the Scottish Assessors Association as paying domestic council tax
- Must not be listed as a business asset or in any business accounts.
The improvements:
- Cannot be installed before you have received a formal funding offer in writing
- Cannot be installed until all necessary planning, building, and other permissions have been provided
- All the improvements you are applying for must have been recommended in one of these energy reports, typically an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), or a suitable report by a Home Energy Scotland advisor.
- If a loft and/or cavity wall insulation are recommended in your EPC, this must be installed before funding can be claimed for other improvements
If applying for external or internal wall, flat roof, room-in-roof or floor insulation, your chosen contractor must be TrustMark registered.
Renewables system must use an MCS installer and the product must be MCS or Solar-Keymark certified.
Required Documentation
The following documentation is required as a part of your application. Please note that certain documents may not be required depending on the types of improvements you are applying for:
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) - prior to applying for a grant and/or loan, you must have a completed EPC that shows the recommended improvements that should be made for your home.
Home Energy Improvement Report and/or Home Renewables Selector Report - If you are applying for a new or replacement heat pump, wind turbine, solar water heating improvement, biomass boiler/stove, you will be required to submit these reports to demonstrate that it has recommended your chosen improvements
Award Details
General funding details:
You can combine funding for energy efficiency improvements, low and zero emission heat, other renewable technologies, energy storage systems, and heat network connections. The minimum funding you can apply for under the grant and loan schemes is £500. Our grant and loan funding covers up to 100% of the quoted installation cost of your improvement, but it cannot be more than the maximum we offer for an individual improvement. The maximum funding for each improvement includes both grant and loan funding. Please see below for a detailed breakdown of each funding maximums per improvement. You must not start work before you receive a written funding offer from us.
You can combine funding for energy efficiency improvements, low and zero emission heat, other renewable technologies, energy storage systems, and heat network connections. The minimum funding you can apply for under the grant and loan schemes is £500. Our grant and loan funding covers up to 100% of the quoted installation cost of your improvement, but it cannot be more than the maximum we offer for an individual improvement. The maximum funding for each improvement includes both grant and loan funding. Please see below for a detailed breakdown of each funding maximums per improvement. You must not start work before you receive a written funding offer from us.
Grant funding:
Grant funding for heat pumps or heat network connections is up to £7,500 or £9,000 if you qualify for the rural uplift. You can take the remainder of the funding you need as an optional interest-free loan.
Grant funding for heat pumps or heat network connections is up to £7,500 or £9,000 if you qualify for the rural uplift. You can take the remainder of the funding you need as an optional interest-free loan.
Grant funding for energy efficiency improvements is up to 75% of the combined cost of the improvements up to the maximum grant of £7,500 or £9,000 if you qualify for the rural uplift. We cannot give you grant funding for energy efficiency improvements if you are receiving grant support from another source for the same improvement, such as Area Based Schemes funding through your local authority and ECO funding.
The two types of grants can be combined in a single application.
Loan funding:
All loans will be subject to an administrative fee of 1.5% of the total loan value, up to a maximum of £150. This fee will automatically be added to the loan value and included in the loan repayment value. Applicants are not required to pay this fee upfront.
All loans will be subject to an administrative fee of 1.5% of the total loan value, up to a maximum of £150. This fee will automatically be added to the loan value and included in the loan repayment value. Applicants are not required to pay this fee upfront.
Repayment begins after the first payment claim is disbursed to the recipient. Recipients have one month in between receiving their payment and beginning their repayment period. Loans are repayable based on the loan value:
- Up to £4,999 = 5 years
- £5,000-£9,999 = 10 years
- > £10,000 = 12 years
You can make extra payments to pay your loan off faster. You can also repay your loan at any time with no penalties or fees. There is no interest to pay.
You must get a post-installation Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and submit it with your claim for funding to confirm the work has been completed. Payments are made within 10 working days of receiving a fully complete claim plus an additional 3-5 working days for the BACS transfer.
You can also use your loan to pay for a pre and/or post installation Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), up to a maximum of £150 per EPC. This is only available if the cost is not already covered by a government-funded scheme.
Application Process
Applications are processed on a rolling basis year-round, subject to the overall availability of loan and grant funds. Energy Saving Trust in consultation with the Scottish Government can suspend or reject applications on the basis that there are insufficient funds available. Once an application has been approved, the funding agreement must be returned within 14 days of offer. Claims for the funds should be made within 9 months of the grant and/or loan being committed, after which the agreement will expire.
We aim to process your application within 10 working days of receiving a fully complete application. Your funding offer may be delayed if there is missing information or if we need to clarify anything with you. We will send you up to three reminders to supply missing or incomplete information. If we do not receive a response to these reminders, the application will expire.
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