Green Homes Wales

The scheme is not means tested¹. Applicants do have to pass credit checks and affordability assessments, and the property must be owned by them and be their primary residence¹. Funding is offered on a first come, first served basis subject to funding availability, and submitting an application does not guarantee funding¹. The Welsh Government had invested almost £12 million into the scheme as of March 2026².

For a household, the value is the funded assessment and the coordination that comes with it. Green Homes Wales funds the initial assessment up to a value of £600 and provides fully funded access to a Retrofit Coordinator, who produces a detailed home assessment with energy efficiency and decarbonisation recommendations³. What remains is a loan obligation: repayments are personally liable, and the scheme is a finance product administered on behalf of Welsh Ministers, not a gift¹.

What the scheme actually offers

The headline is a loan, and the terms matter more than the rate. Interest free borrowing of £1,000 to £25,000 over up to 10 years is unusual in the home improvement market, and the six-month upfront repayment holiday is designed to run while new measures begin delivering results¹. Loans are unsecured, but homeowners are personally liable to make the agreed repayments¹.

Alongside the loan, the scheme provides grant funding for specific energy efficiency measures, which reduces out-of-pocket expenses¹. The grant cannot be accessed in isolation: Green Homes Wales offers a finance package which provides grant funding in certain circumstances¹. There is also project cost top up funding available alongside a grant from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which can support the costs of heat pump technology, supply and fitting or labour, and associated pipework and radiator costs¹.

The funded assessment is the part that costs the household nothing. Green Homes Wales funds the initial assessment up to a value of £600, and provides fully funded access to a Retrofit Coordinator to create a detailed home assessment³. Homeowners begin with an initial assessment and a detailed whole home review to identify suitable improvements². Fully funded expert advice is part of the package².

The scheme was announced as a pilot in October 2024, intended to decarbonise homes across all tenures and to support the market to develop and strengthen local supply chains⁵. It works in conjunction with collective purchasing schemes being organised by a number of local authorities in Wales². Solar Energy UK has called for Green Homes Wales and Warm Homes to be aligned with the Warm Homes Plan⁶.

Who can apply

Eligibility turns on the property and the applicant's finances, not on benefits. The scheme is for homeowners in Wales, subject to affordability and credit checks⁷. The home must be owned by the applicant, be their primary residence, and be located in Wales¹. It must not be a new build property, meaning homes built in the last six months that have not previously been occupied¹.

Private landlords cannot currently apply, and are directed to Climate Action Wales for further information¹. Listed buildings are not currently supported by the scheme¹. Citizens Advice guidance for Wales adds that the home should not be in a conservation area, that the applicant lives in the home, and that the home was built over six months ago⁸.

The scheme supports the installation, in domestic properties located in Wales, of certain types of energy efficiency improvement measures and low carbon heating systems⁴. It is administered on behalf of Welsh Ministers by DBW Investments (11) Limited, trading as the Development Bank of Wales⁴.

Conditions, exclusions and what is not covered

The funding can be used to cover the costs of the supply and installation of the eligible measures¹. It will not cover any remediation work required, or any project management or design costs, except where agreed specifically by the scheme¹. Ventilation systems are eligible for loan funding support where insulation is being installed, or where additionally recommended by the Retrofit Coordinator¹.

Installers must either be registered with TrustMark as an approved PAS 2030 installer, or registered with TrustMark and certified with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme where the installation involves a low carbon technology such as a heat pump or solar panels¹. The installer cannot be a member of the applicant's household or immediate family¹.

For quality assurance, Green Homes Wales embeds the requirement for PAS 2035 compliance across its structure and the conditions of third parties engaged with it, including Retrofit Coordinators and installers¹. The Retrofit Coordinator develops a tailored improvement plan, ensures recommendations are sound, cost effective and in line with standards, and helps plan the work in the right order³. The coordinator needs to be involved throughout the installation and work on the home, ready to advise at any point, and needs a good working knowledge of the Green Homes Wales scheme and its criteria³.

The loan agreement is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, with the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales⁴. Confirmation comes in the form of a funding offer letter once the application is fully processed and the required documents and supporting information are submitted alongside it¹. If a first loan has been fully repaid, a household can apply for further funding to undertake new energy efficiency measures¹.

How the process runs

The route is assessment first, then decision, then work. Homeowners begin with an initial assessment and a detailed whole home review to identify suitable improvements, whether that is installing a heat pump, upgrading insulation, or modernising the heating system². The Retrofit Coordinator then develops a tailored improvement plan based on what the home needs and what the household wants³.

The end decision on whether or not to go ahead with any work always lies with the homeowner³. That matters because the assessment is funded whether or not the work proceeds, and because the loan is a personal liability rather than a charge on the property¹.

Supported measures span fabric, heating and generation. The list includes air source heat pumps, ground or water source heat pumps, high heat retention storage heaters, biomass boilers or stoves, solar thermal, solar PV, solar PV with a solar diverter or solar PVT, solar PV with battery storage, solid wall insulation, flat roof or room in roof insulation, loft insulation including top-ups, cavity wall insulation, high performance glazing, draught proofing, floor insulation, and heating controls and smart home energy management systems¹.

For general advice on current support options, the scheme directs households to Nest on 0808 808 2244, which provides free and impartial general advice¹. Households comparing routes across the UK can start with the home energy grants pillar or the Wales-specific page on home energy grants in Wales, and those weighing a loan against other finance should read interest-free loans for home energy work.

What it means for energy independence

Green Homes Wales buys a household a plan and a loan, not autonomy. The measures it supports, particularly solar PV with battery storage and heat pumps, reduce the amount of energy a home draws from the grid and from gas, and the funded assessment is what makes the ordering of that work coherent rather than piecemeal¹. That is a real shift in how much of a home's energy it supplies or controls itself.

The dependence that remains is financial and structural. The household owes the loan, personally, whether or not the measures perform as modelled¹. The scheme itself can be suspended or closed, and grant amounts and eligibility requirements can change before an offer letter is issued⁴. The installer must be TrustMark registered and, for low carbon technology, MCS certified, so the choice of who does the work is constrained by scheme rules rather than open¹. And the scheme is a Welsh Government initiative administered by the Development Bank of Wales, so its continuation depends on Welsh Government funding decisions rather than on the household's own arrangements¹.