Stamp duty for energy efficient homes should be lower, thinktank suggests

Stamp duty for energy efficient homes should be up to £2,500 lower than for those that aren't, a think tank has recently suggested.

Policy Exchange believes the change to stamp duty could lead to 270,000 households a year improving their energy efficiency. It proposes linking the stamp duty system to the energy performance of a property to create an incentive for buyers to purchase a more efficient home.

Furthermore, the organization states homebuyers could receive a £500 discount on the stamp duty charged on a house bought for £220,000, the average price paid in the UK.

It would be paid for by charging more money — up to £2,470 from £1,900 — on properties that are found to be the most inefficient. However it suggests the money could be paid back if energy efficiency improvements — such as insulation or a new boiler — are made within 12 months from the point of purchase.

According to the thinktank, household gas and electricity usage fell by 23% between 2004 and 2014 however the UK still has among the least efficient housing stock and highest rates of fuel poverty in Europe.

Richard Howard, Head of Environment and Energy said: "There is a clear case for improving the energy efficiency of UK homes. Improving energy efficiency can significantly reduce household energy bills, contribute to meeting decarbonisation objectives at low cost and reduce fuel poverty and the associated health effects of living in a cold home.

"It can also improve the security of supply of energy by reducing the overall demand for electricity and gas, reducing the need to build new power stations and reducing fossil fuel imports."

HeatingSave — the perfect Building Energy Management System to make your home more energy efficient

The HeatingSave Building Energy Management System is registered on the Government Energy Technology List, which means that users can easily obtain Green Deal funding in order to have the system installed.

Plus, since it allows home owners to cut energy bills by up to an impressive 30%+, HeatingSave is the perfect energy-saving measure to implement, given the huge long-term savings it enables.

The system is built around the idea of optimizing the energy consumption levels within any area with the help of an advanced heat-loss algorithm that creates a specific profile for any building and based on that, switches heating on later if its warm and off earlier if its cold.

It also automatically adjusts your boiler depending on how warm it is outside — save up to another 10%.

Additionally, the automatic occupancy detection allows the temperature to reduce to a background when areas are not used and quickly brought up to temperature when they are being used.

If you'd like to find out more information on the HeatingSave system and the way in which one can take advantage of it in conjunction with the Green Deal program, just contact our dedicated team, they'll be more than happy to answer all of the questions and queries you might have.