First published: 05/05/2023 -
Last updated: 21/03/2024 -
Reviewed by our Editorial Panel
Rhondda family saves £600 per year after installing solar panels
A father-of-four, Christian Badham from Rhondda, is saving up to £50 a month on his energy bills after installing solar panels on his house, thanks to the Nest home energy scheme.
The Welsh Government invested £26.9m from 2022-2023 in the Nest scheme, providing energy-saving advice to 21,000 households. Its home energy improvement package provided support to more than 4,000 eligible households, saving people like Christian on average £422 on energy bills per year.
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How do home energy schemes like this help us make greener choices?
After moving into a three-bedroom home in Ton Pentre last year, Christian Badham wanted to take steps to improve its energy efficiency and, in turn, reduce his bills.
He started investigating options and came across Nest, a Welsh Government-funded scheme which can offer certain households a package of free home efficiency improvements. Three weeks later, the house had eight solar panels fitted and the family is now reaping the benefits.
Christian said:
Since having the panels installed, I’ve noticed our energy bills have gone down by around £50 per month. It’s made a huge difference!
Like many families, we didn’t have the savings to invest in the installation of solar panels, but wanted to make our home more energy efficient, especially with energy prices increasing. With the Nest scheme, we’ve been able to access funding to support energy efficiency changes to our home. I couldn’t believe how easy the whole process was. The installation wasn’t at all disruptive, and it didn’t present any drastic changes to our home.
The panels have the capability of powering 35 kWh of energy per day. But because of them, in the summer for example, we only use 4 kWh per day.
Why take action?
The Warm Homes Nest scheme has supported tens of thousands of homes across Wales with energy efficiency improvements. These measures help to keep homes warm, reduce energy bills and improve health and wellbeing.
Ross Kirwan, Head of Nest, said:
We are committed to offering free, impartial advice to all households in Wales, regardless of circumstance, empowering our customers with tailored support, helping them to make the right choices when it comes to saving money and energy in the home.
Agreeing, Julie James, Minister for Climate Change said:
Using energy more efficiently in our homes is a great way to reduce our impact on climate change by lowering carbon emissions.
It’s wonderful to see people like Christian proactively accessing the funds available to make important changes, while also enjoying the cost-saving benefits.
What is Wales doing?
The Welsh Government has committed to improving energy efficiency of homes across Wales through schemes like Nest and the Optimised Retrofit programme through registered social landlords.
