CASP Home Energy Project
'Keeping warm, lowering bills, cooling the planet'
CASP’s successful application for funding from the Government’s Community Energy Fund, administered by the Greater South East Net Zero Hub, and has enabled the CASP Home Energy Project to investigate how to make home energy saving improvements easier and more affordable for all.
Nearly 50% of our total energy consumption in the villages is for heating our homes! This is partially due to our dependence on oil boilers for heating, and our older housing stock which may be more difficult to insulate. ​
To increase the uptake of new technology, and to help overcome barriers to home energy improvements, the CASP Home Energy Project aims to look at the barriers to installation of low carbon options in a range of housing types, develop the best options for each, and identify their costs and benefits.
Without funding, making these changes will continue to be on an individual household basis and will therefore be slower than if approached collectively.
To accelerate the installation of zero carbon energy options, the CASP Home Energy Project aims to upskill the community with an understanding of our options, and to work with local installers, investigate economies of scale, and test alternative finance and business models.
Here's how the process works:
1. Understand the housing stock by looking at EPCs, heat sources, building characteristics and age to develop a set of housing “archetypes”.
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2. Engage the community on their home energy use and obstacles to retrofit.
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3. Carry out free retrofit assessments for 10 sample households, recommend suitable energy-saving improvements and estimate their potential impact on energy consumption, comfort and costs.
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4. Develop and test local energy and retrofit business models at a household level and at the community scale. We will map viable funding routes for each archetype including self-funding, grants, and loans. We’ll also consider options for community-led business models that can deliver retrofit services locally.
Get involved and help us help the community!
Project progress update!
December 2025
Over the past few months, CASP members have been busy reaching out to the community, from door knocking to sharing flyers at local events like the farmers’ market. You may have seen us around! We’ve been promoting our home energy questionnaire, and we’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone who took the time to complete it. Your responses have helped us build a representative picture of local housing types and gather valuable insights into community obstacles and needs. We’re pleased to share that expert analysis of our villages’ housing stock is now underway. The Centre for Energy Equality is reviewing the data to identify opportunities for effective and affordable retrofit solutions tailored to our area.
As we transition into the next phase, our focus will shift to turning that data into action: identifying suitable energy-saving measures, estimating impacts on consumption, comfort, and cost. Then Communities for Renewables will begin to develop viable retrofit business models at both the household and community scale. Excitingly, we are now in the process of inviting selected households to take up the retrofit assessment opportunity and partner with us in the next stage of this community-led energy transition.
Project Launch Event
On June 28th, CASP was joined by Communities for Renewables, Centre for Energy Equality and Community Energy Pathways and Cllr Robert Betts for the launch event of the Home Energy Project at Plaxtol Memorial Hall!
We heard about:
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The CASP Home Energy Project
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Easy first steps for home energy saving (the ‘fabric first approach’)
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Affordable, low-carbon, alternative heating systems
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Review of what grants are available
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1:1 energy advice
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Retrofit /home upgrade success stories
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Get involved by filling in the home energy assessment survey!
June 2025
