Warm Up North

Warm Up North is an energy retrofit program in housing and public non-domestic properties in the North East of England. It addresses both landlords and tenants.

It is a Local Authority partnership who has procured a private sector delivery partner (public-private partnership) to be an exclusively endorsed Green Deal (GD) & Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) Provider. The main contract is between Newcastle City Council and British Gas. Beneficiaries do not need to be British Gas customers to apply. An Inter Authority Agreement exists between Newcastle and the other 8 Authorities:

• Northumberland
• Gateshead
• Durham
• Darlington
• Newcastle
• South Tyneside
• Sunderland
• Hartlepool
• Redcar & Cleveland

The program covers energy efficiency measures e.g. cavity, loft, solid wall insulation, boilers and solar photovoltaic etc.

Warm Up North is committed to delivering 60% of its installations through local small and medium sized companies (SMEs).

The service contract covers a 5 years period from 2013 to 2018 (plus 3 year optional extension) and targets households and non-residential buildings in the North East region who can access works through the contract.

The objectives of Warm Up North are to:

• Improve energy efficiency / reduce energy consumption
• Reduce carbon emissions
• Reduce consumer energy bills / alleviate fuel poverty
• Safeguard / create employment

The investment and financing model is based on a minimum range of 10,000 to 15,000 domestic properties across all tenures to be retrofitted with a mix of measures appropriate to the property / household.

If the scheme is successful it will:

• Help homeowners install energy efficiency measures
• Improve the quality and quantity of energy advice
• Support the regional economy by safeguarding and creating employment and skills
• Help maintain decent neighbourhoods by reducing carbon emissions
• Tackle inequalities by providing residents with mitigating the risk of rising energy costs.

It is the UK’s largest regional scheme delivering energy efficiency measures for the residential sector. Procurement is predominantly funded by a European (IEE) grant. British Gas was appointed as exclusively endorsed Green Deal Provider.  Green Deal Providers arrange Green Deal Plans, provide finance, and arrange for the installation of the agreed energy efficiency improvements through an authorised Installer. The Green Deal Provider is responsible for:

Offering a Green Deal Plan to customers, based on recommendations from an accredited Assessor Organisation;

• Arranging for the installation of energy efficiency improvements, carried out by an authorised Installer; and
• Ongoing obligations in relation to Green Deal Plans, including dealing with customer complaints and providing information when a new bill payer moves into a property with a Green Deal.

The Green Deal Plan sets out the financial terms of the agreement and includes consumer protections, such as warranties, to cover the energy efficiency improvements and installation. Only an authorised Provider can offer a Green Deal Plan.

British Gas committed significant levels (albeit reducing) of ECO funding to invest in homes across the partner authorities. In addition they provide programmes of behavioural change, helping consumers to reduce their energy consumption. The EU procurement started in June 2012 and British Gas was selected in July 2013.

The Warm Up North Regional partnership received around 1,24 M £ (1, 6 M€) of DECC (Department of Energy & Climate Change) Grant for Demonstration Projects. Because of the nature of the proposed measures they were able to draw in an additional 750k£ (1M€) ‘Energy Company Obligation’ (ECO) contributory funding from Energy Companies.