REGISTERED SOCIAL LANDLORDS
Flutter Shutter’s™ patented innovative plantation shutter blinds offer a unique and evolutionary benefit to the property market.
Unlike any other shutter or blind available today, Flutter Shutter™ is officially comparable to triple glazing. Should you choose to install our measure, the EPC will reflect this and your customer will be making roughly the same savings in energy and pounds.
In addition to this, Flutter Shutter™ makes for a simpler way to gain those all important SAP points without the upheaval of replacing the windows.
Originating as a Green Deal Assessor Organisation (GDAO), we had council and private business contracts throughout the country and now, almost 9 years on, we are operating throughout the Northwest with the ability to provide our product nationally all over the UK.
Our creative and effective solution, Flutter Shutter™ was deliberated from working closely with Councils and Registered Social Landlords as a way of saving both energy and heat for their customers and therefore saving money, reducing carbon footprint, and helping the environment.
From our first-hand experience as Domestic Energy Assessors, one of the many issues with housing is the thermal envelope. It is known that RSL’s have spent thousands of pounds trying to reduce problems in order to get the energy performance certificate (EPC) rating up. The standard has been set that every landlord needs to reach a minimum of an C rating on an EPC by 2035 and NetZero by 2050. Flutter Shutter™ significantly improves the SAP Rating and has parallel U-values to triple glazing.
An exciting full-scale pilot scheme was launched by Flutter Shutter Ltd™ in 2021 working in conjunction with Livv Housing Group. Flutter Shutter™ was installed to all but one window in a selection of homes throughout the Knowsley Borough. This trial highlighted the difference Flutter Shutter™ makes in a real-life environment. The pilot scheme ultimately helped calculate the cost of savings, improving quality of life whilst combatting the ‘heating or eating’ dilemma that is currently faced in our society.Flutter Shutter™ has also been made eligible for multiple Government funded schemes. Below is a list of currently available schemes that Flutter Shutter™ is a part of. Click the titles below for a detailed breakdown on each available scheme.
ECO4 (Energy Company Obligation) Scheme
The Energy Company Obligation, also known as the ECO scheme, is a government efficiency scheme that aims to reduce carbon emissions and combat fuel poverty. This scheme is targeted towards homes of low-income residents who are fuel poor and vulnerable.
Eligibility criteria:
- Households who are considered to be on a low income and who are in fuel poverty
- You need to be in receipt of the following benefits:
- Child Benefit
- Pension Guarantee Credit
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income Support
- Tax Credits (Child Tax Credits and Working Tax Credits)
- Universal Credit
- Housing benefit
- Pension credit saving credit
- Houses with EPC ratings of D, E, F & G
- You must be a homeowner or have permission from your landlord, including if the property is owned by a social housing provider or management company.
ECO4 Flex (Local Authority Flexible) Scheme
ECO4 Flex is a household referral mechanism within the wider ECO4 scheme which enables Local Authorities to widen the eligibility criteria for ECO, allowing them to tailor energy efficiency schemes to their respective area.
The flexible approach to identifying eligible households exists to target low-income households who are unlikely to be in receipt of the scheme’s standard approach to fulfilling eligibility. This approach is available for Local Authorities and Devolved Administrations under the ECO4 scheme.
Under ECO4 Flex, a participating Local Authority can refer private tenure households that it considers to be living in fuel poverty or on a low income and vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home. While ECO4 Flex is optional, suppliers can deliver up to 50% of their ECO obligation under this mechanism.
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has secured £11.1m as part of the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, which aims to tackle fuel poverty and boost energy efficiency in social housing stock across the Liverpool City Region. The Combined Authority will work with nine local Housing Associations to install retrofit measures in social housing to reduce energy bills, reduce carbon emissions and make homes warmer.
The £11.1m will be split across Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton and Wirral local authorities, and assist the Housing Associations to pay for work to be carried out on around 1250 social housing properties by the end of 2023. The Housing Associations have carefully selected the properties which will be targeted, to ensure that the measures are installed where most needed and most beneficial. Eligible homes must have an EPC rating of D, E, F or G.
Social Housing Decarbonisation Wave 2 is expected to commence in the next year, and future waves should ensure that the social housing stock in the Liverpool City Region achieves the target to attain EPC Band C by 2035 and contribute to the Liverpool City Region’s Net Zero Carbon Target of 2040.
The money awarded by BEIS to the Combined Authority as part of Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund increases the current total investment in housing retrofit measures to £54.5m, which will tackle fuel poverty and increase energy efficiency in over 5,000 low-income households.
Find out if your housing association is participating by contacting your landlord.