New heating helps residents’ health and lowers electricity use by 32%

The improvements for both schemes were made thanks to a £1,894,399 grant from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Net Zero Fund, which in turn, came from the UK Government.

George and Di Harris live in a one-bedroomed apartment at Honeysuckle House that used to have storage heaters. Their flat was fitted with a new, more responsive and energy-efficient heating system.

Said George: “Having angina, I feel the heat and the cold. With this system, it’s easier to keep the flat at a constant temperature using the new thermostat.

“We’ve had a whole winter with it, and I like it better than the old storage heaters. Once we learned how to use them, the heaters are much easier to control – and they look better too.

“The air source heat pumps take air from the outside, extracts the heat out of it and transfers that into our heating system,” said George.

Di used to run a guest house in Blackpool and has a number of health issues. She said: “The new system keeps me comfortable. It gives us hotter water more quickly.

“I prefer this air source heat pump system to the old one. I think it’s fantastic, and would recommend it.”

Their flat only uses electricity. Along with the new heating system, a smart meter was installed to track how much energy the couple use. Since then, George and Di have noticed that their electricity bills have dropped.

“We used to use about £100 of electricity a month with the old system,” said George, who has lived in the flat for 8.5 years. “Last winter we used about £65 a month. That’s a good saving.”

Also saving money for the residents, while releasing less carbon into the atmosphere, are solar panels fitted to the roofs. They generate electricity to help heat and light the communal areas and power the residents’ laundry room.

Cllr Dave Merrett, Executive Member for Housing at City of York Council, said:

“This upgrade has made a huge difference to the tenants of the 62 homes to have benefited. Achieving average energy savings of around one third of what they previously used, is fantastic for tenants and great for the environment too.

“After the retrofit works were complete, most survey respondents reported more comfortable temperatures at home. They also say they are happier with a new system that’s easier to control, and use secondary heating less. This shows the huge value of this funding to retrofit homes across our city.”

David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said:

“People living at Honeysuckle House should be able to keep their homes warm and comfortable without worrying about the bills.

"That's why we've invested to retrofit more homes and reduce those costs.

"We’re already getting started on these improvements, but York and North Yorkshire’s upcoming Retrofit Strategy has communities like these at its heart."

Dr Kate Morland, Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University, said: "It has been encouraging to hear residents talk so positively about the changes. Many told us their homes are more comfortable and easier to keep warm, and our monitoring showed clear reductions in electricity use. This demonstrates how low-carbon heating upgrades can make a meaningful difference to people's daily lives."

The residents were consulted before work began in 2025. They were able to stay in their homes while the systems were installed.