The Greener Home Reward scheme will see the lender provide up to £2,000 to its residential mortgage customers who register online and then make and pay for a selected home energy efficiency-related improvement.
Customers can choose to install any one of several home improvements, including:
- an air-source heat pump
- double or triple-glazed windows
- solar panels
- or home insulation
The chosen home improvement must be completed by a TrustMark-registered business or tradesperson.
The incentive comes following research from Barclays which found the majority of homeowners hoped to make energy efficiency-related home improvements within five years, but three quarters simply could not afford them.
The cost-of-living crisis has added additional financial pressures creating further barriers to homeowners making these kinds of improvements.
Barclays hopes this pilot scheme will help it evaluate the effectiveness of a cash reward for driving greener home improvements, with a view to developing products along these lines in the future.
Why small, instant rewards are more favourable
Reaping the financial rewards of energy efficient home improvements can be significant but can often take years to come to fruition.
As such, Barclays has developed the pilot scheme using behavioural psychology based on the concept people tend to prefer to receive an immediate albeit small reward to incentivise them.
Dr Pete Brooks, behavioural economist for Barclays explained: “When weighing up the costs and benefits of retrofitting, a behavioural bias called ‘hyperbolic discounting’ often comes into play, which in essence means that we tend to prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger payoffs further down the line.
“With the expected payback period for some home improvements clocking in at over a decade, these larger options may be overlooked. Even if the long-term benefits might be greater, the end result is often inaction.
“To overcome this, our latest initiative helps provide a more immediate reward to our residential mortgage customers to help with the cost of making energy efficiency-related home improvements. Couple this with providing helpful information to consumers to help them make informed choices and we hope to encourage more people to overcome their human biases.”
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TV’s Martel Maxwell: ‘I know what it’s like to take that leap’
Martel Maxwell, property expert and presenter has experience of making green home improvements. She said:
“I know what it’s like to take that leap; when we built our home six years ago, we went ‘renewable’ installing everything from solar panels to a ground source heat pump, triple glazing and lots in between, which was a big undertaking.
“However, there’s no doubt it can be daunting financially, so that’s why the pilot of Barclays’ Greener Home Reward is such good news, because it helps homeowners start to make those changes.”
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You can find out more about making greener choices by visiting Barclay’s Sustainability Hub.
A full breakdown of the support available (Source: Barclays)
| Home improvement type | Measures covered | Average Annual Carbon Savings3 | Average cost3 | Barclays Cash Reward |
| Low Carbon Heating | · Air & Ground Source Heat Pumps | 1,630 kg CO2e | £9,000 – £19,000 | £2,000 |
| · Biomass boilers | 2,000 kg CO2e | £11,000 – £17,000 | ||
| · Solar Hot Water Heating | 820 kg CO2e | £3,000 – £6000 | £1,000 | |
| Solar Energy | · Solar Electricity Panels
· Solar Battery Storage |
820 kg CO2e | £3,000 – £6000 | |
| Insulation | · Solid wall insulation | 4,200 kg CO2e | £8,500 – £12,000 | |
| Insulation and Doors | · Flat Roof / Loft / Pitch roof insulation | 2,750 kg CO2e | £530 | £500 |
| · Cavity wall insulation | 3,100 kg CO2e | £1,100 | ||
| · Floor insulation | 180 kg CO2e | £1,200 – £2,500 | ||
| Windows | · A-Rated Double / Triple / secondary glazing | 335 kg CO2e | £7,500 |
