I got thousands of pounds of energy home improvements for FREE – it’s cut by bills by £1,200 a year

RETIRED NHS worker Gareth Hodgson was considering selling his house or getting a lodger because of spiralling energy costs.

But now he doesn't have to after he applied for tens of thousands of pounds of FREE home improvements that have nearly halved his bills.

Gareth, 58, from Merseyside, applied for energy efficiency grants through his local authority, St Helen's Borough Council in March this year.

His friend, who is an engineer, told him that some councils give low income households money to put towards making their home greener - and that Gareth might qualify for the help.

"Bills were rocketing, and me and my wife, Colette, are both living off NHS pensions which is not a lot," Gareth said.

"We were keen to reduce our energy bill."

Councils run schemes where you can apply for energy efficiency grants worth up to £10,000 to make your home greener.

The help you can get varies depending on where you live and your personal circumstances.

In most areas, homeowners must have a total income of less than £30,000 to get the help.

Your home must have an EPC rating of D, E, F or G for you to be eligible too.

Gareth and Colette qualified for St Helen's Borough Council energy efficiency scheme because their household income is under £30,000 a year.

Gareth had to prove he was on a low income by providing three months' worth of receipts.

A few weeks later, Next Energy, which rolls out the scheme on the council's behalf, rang Gareth to say a surveyor would be sent round to his house to check what improvements he was eligible for.

"I nearly fell through the floor when they told me what I could get," Gareth said.

"I thought I would just get some draught excluders - but we got a heat pump, double glazing, and solar panels.

"We also had our radiators switched to new modern ones.

"We haven't had to pay a penny for it."

All the measures were installed in two and a half months, and Gareth said he has since seen an "unbelievable change" to his energy bills.

Before the measures were installed, Gareth was using £223 worth of energy a month.

Now, he pays £120 a month on his bills to his supplier, Octopus - over £100 less.

"I'm massively relieved this has happened before winter - I'd have been terrified otherwise.

"We were considering selling the house and downsizing or getting a lodger in because of rising bills.

"Now we don't have to do that."

Installing solar panels can cost around £6,000.

Gareth has an air sourced heat pump fitted, which typically costs between £8,000 and £14,000.

Installing double glazing costs an average of around £600 per window according to Everest.