What Is The Nest Home Energy Support Scheme?

Every Welsh person is reviewing all their monthly expenses in the wake of the cost-of-living crisis.

If your household is struggling to heat your home, the Welsh Government Warm Homes Nest scheme is here to help.

What Is Nest?

As mentioned, the Nest Scheme is a Welsh Government initiative designed to assist local homeowners with their energy bills and improve the energy efficiency of their properties.

Since 2011, Nest has helped over 60,000 households with free home energy-saving improvements. These improvements include:

• Upgrading heating systems
• Insulation improvements
• And installing solar panels

Once these improvements are completed, they will lower energy bills and create a better environment for individuals with health issues.

The Nest scheme is all about making life a little easier for households in Wales. It offers free, friendly, and impartial advice, pointing people towards a wide range of support services that can help with energy and home comfort. If you qualify, you could also get a package of free home energy improvements to help cut your bills.

Nest works closely with partner organisations to make sure help reaches those who need it most, especially the most vulnerable households. It’s all part of supporting the Welsh Government’s Fuel Poverty Strategy, making sure fewer people have to worry about the rising cost of keeping their homes warm.

The Welsh Government is proud of the work accomplished by Nest, highlighting in their annual report that during 2023-2024:

• Free and impartial energy saving advice to 12,809 households;
• A home energy improvement package, such as a central heating system, a boiler, insulation, solar panels, or an air source heat pump, to 4,816 households;
• A modelled average energy bill saving of £595 per year;
• Benefit entitlement checks resulting in a £4,233 average potential benefit take-up per household; and
• 100% of installations completed by Wales-based installers.

Nest is currently overseen by British Gas, working in collaboration with the Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Welsh Government.

Over the year, 155 households discovered they qualified for new or extra benefits worth an average of £4,233 each.

Altogether, that added up to an impressive £656,115 in additional support for Welsh households in 2023–24.

Who’s Eligible For The Nest Scheme?

Welsh residents can call the Nest Warm Homes Programme for free between Monday and Friday from 09:00 to 18:00 on 0808 808 2244.

Additionally, all calls are welcome in Welsh. When chatting to their friendly advisors, they can offer free and impartial advice to help lower your energy bills and improve your health and well-being with:

• The best energy and water tariff for your home
• Benefits to boost your household income
• Help to lower your carbon footprint
• And advice on installing new low-carbon technology

Our advisors can also help you determine if you qualify for free home energy efficiency improvements.

To qualify for free home energy improvements through the Nest scheme, you must meet specific criteria, which include the following:

1. Where Do You Live?

To qualify for help from Nest, you have to be a homeowner or a private tenant in Wales. If you’re in social housing, you may not be eligible for the complete package of measures, but you can still access free advice.

2. What’s Your Household Income And Circumstances?

As mentioned, Nest is designed to help households that need to upgrade their property’s efficiency.

If someone in your home is claiming a government benefit, you’re more likely to qualify for assistance.

Benefits that are included are as follows:

• Universal Credit
• Income Support
• Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit or Savings Credit)
• Jobseeker’s Allowance (income-based)
• Employment and Support Allowance (income-related)
• Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit (subject to income thresholds)

However, some households with low incomes, even if they’re not on benefits, can request assistance, as local cost-of-living and household size are taken into account.

During 2023-24, a total of 2,041 customers were referred to their energy supplier to apply for a Wam Home Discount assistance.

Nest also helped Welsh residents during the year by:

• Referring 1,518 customers to Fire and Rescue Services across Wales, of which 205 received a free home fire safety check.
• Referring 1,675 customers to affordability schemes from Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, which included HelpU, Water Direct, Customer Assistance Fund, and Water Sure.
• And referring 1,612 customers to receive money management advice.

Receiving help with managing finances is incredibly helpful.

3. Health-Related Eligibility

Between July 2019 and the end of March 2024, a total of 31,078 households were assessed because they met health criteria.

You may also qualify if someone in your household has a chronic health condition that’s made worse by living in a cold or damp home, such as:

• Respiratory illnesses (e.g., asthma, COPD)
• Cardiovascular disease
• Mobility issues
• And certain mental health conditions are affected by cold environments

4. Property’s Condition

Your home must be suitable for the improvements offered (for example, the existing heating system must meet replacement criteria). Nest will give priority to homes with low energy efficiency ratings, as indicated by an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). A rating of between D and G will be low enough to qualify for assistance from Nest.

An EPC certificate is valid for ten years and is required for homeowners to buy or sell a property. In Wales, landlords are legally obligated to have an EPC for their properties and to make it available to prospective tenants or buyers.

Additionally, in Wales, properties with an EPC rating of E or above are required to comply with the law; failure to do so may result in a penalty of up to £5,000.

If you can’t locate your EPC certificate, you can look it up on www.gov.uk.

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How To Apply For The Nest Scheme

To apply for help from the Nest scheme, as mentioned, you can simply call them for free from Monday to Friday, between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

You can also request a callback via the Nest website or send an email to advicewales@est.org.uk.

As mentioned, calls and emails are welcome in both English and Welsh.

Even if you’re not sure of your eligibility, it’s still worth getting in touch with Nest, as they can offer free and impartial energy efficiency advice and guidance on other relevant support.

The advisor on the phone will ask you a few questions to determine if you’re eligible for improvements and to verify that you have the correct documents.

When on the phone with the advisor, they will ask you:

• What’s your tenure at the property, e.g., are you the homeowner or private tenant?
• Are you or anyone in the household receiving any benefits?
• What is your total household income?
• What’s your EPC rating at the property?
• And does anyone in your household have a chronic health condition that is affected by cold, which could relax the eligibility threshold?

If you answer correctly, the advisor from Nest will arrange a free home assessment by an accredited energy professional. During this inspection, the assessor will inspect your home’s insulation, heating system, and energy performance.

After the assessment is completed, the professional will suggest energy-saving improvements for the property.

You’ll be connected with approved installers or delivery partners, who carry out the upgrades. Nest covers the full cost of eligible work, and there’s no out-of-pocket expense for qualifying households.

If you don’t meet all the eligibility criteria, Nest will still offer helpful guidance on energy-saving practices, such as:

• Tariff switching,
• Checking benefit entitlements,
• And applying to other schemes like Green Homes Wales

Currently, the Nest Scheme is collaborating with local authorities and government agencies.

When selecting a contractor to assist with upgrading your home’s heating efficiency, you will want to check if the contractor is registered with:

• TrustMark, a government-endorsed quality scheme covering the work the professional contractor completes.
• A Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) installer who has insights into using low-carbon energy technologies.
• And is a Gas Safe Registered Engineer, a qualification required for any professional working on gas appliances.

However, if you’ve tried to apply for assistance through the Nest Scheme and haven’t received the result you were looking for, you can still finance a new boiler with WarmZilla.

We offer a range of flexible finance plans to help spread the cost of a new boiler and heating system upgrades.