In a landmark move to enhance energy efficiency across the nation, the government has rolled out the Eco4 Grant, a comprehensive funding initiative aimed at reducing carbon emissions and lowering energy costs for households. This grant focuses on utilising advanced address lookup and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data to streamline the application process and ensure targeted improvements.

The Eco4 Grant is designed to assist low-income households and those living in energy-inefficient homes, providing them with the financial support needed to make essential upgrades. By integrating address lookup and EPC data into the application process, the grant aims to identify eligible properties more efficiently, ensuring that the funds are allocated to homes that need it the most.

Advanced Address Lookup with EPC: Precision in Identification

AFD’s Address Lookup functionality returns an accurate address when a user searches by either postcode then selects their property or by typing in the first line of the address and selecting the property.

At this point of selection, AFD returns the PAF address alongside the EPC data.

The integration of advanced address lookup technology plays a pivotal role in the Eco4 Grant’s success. This system enables precise identification of properties, ensuring that no eligible household is overlooked. By cross-referencing accurate address data with various datasets including EPC and UPRN, the technology verifies eligibility and provides accurate location details via property level latitude/longitude for a pinpoint property location. This precision reduces administrative overhead and accelerates the application process, allowing more households to benefit from the grant in a shorter time frame.

EPC data can also be appended through bulk cleansing of address databases.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are crucial in assessing a property’s energy efficiency. The EPC data offers a detailed analysis of a home’s energy use, carbon dioxide emissions, and potential savings from energy efficiency improvements. By leveraging this data, the Eco4 Grant can prioritise properties that require the most urgent upgrades.

EPC data helps in the following ways:

• Identifying Inefficient Homes: Properties with lower EPC ratings are flagged for priority funding, ensuring that the most energy-inefficient homes receive upgrades first.
• Customised Improvement Plans: Detailed EPC reports enable the creation of tailored improvement plans for each property, maximising the impact of the grant funds.
• Tracking Progress: Post-upgrade, EPC data is used to measure the effectiveness of the improvements, ensuring that the grant delivers on its promise of enhanced energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions.

Impact on Households and the Environment

The Eco4 Grant’s strategic use of address lookup and EPC data not only streamlines the application process but also ensures a significant impact on both households and the environment. By targeting the most inefficient homes, the grant helps reduce energy bills for low-income families, contributing to a reduction in fuel poverty. Additionally, the energy efficiency upgrades lower carbon emissions, aligning with national and global goals for climate change mitigation.

Pista technologies Ltd capture leads for Eco4 government grants to help individuals who live in properties with poor EPC ratings and areas of high deprivation. Adam Evans says; “We have Property level address validation with EPC data from AFD, this means we can capture property information with speed and accuracy, each captured address contains additional information including the EPC rating meaning we don’t have to separately source this data, helping our internal processes.

Bpha, a housing association managing over 40,000 properties rely on AFD’s address lookup and cleansing solutions with EPC data to prioritise maintenance and get their workforce to the right location, read their story here.