Testimonials

Solid Wall Insulation

Husband and wife, Leslie & Maggie Sykes are both retired and have lived in the Golcar area of Huddersfield all their lives having both previously worked in the local textiles industry. The couple have lived in their current home, a semi-detached bungalow for 3 years.

The Sykes’ heard about The Big Energy Upgrade scheme from a flyer put through the post. When the projects assessors arrived on their doorstep and spoke about the free energy saving advice and available measures under the scheme, the Sykes’ were immediately interested. Mr Sykes explained “The assessors were very polite and told us that the council wanted to install solid wall insulation which would be free to us and help us to reduce our energy bills”.

The Sykes’ were sure that The Big Energy Upgrade would benefit them as the last winter had been very cold meaning that their energy bills were incredibly high despite receiving help from the winter fuel payments. “We used to have to rely on an additional electric heater even though we have gas central heating because the house was always cold; the solid walls made all the heat go straight through them.”

As the property is a council house, Kirklees council wanted to install solid wall insulation to the area of 100 homes, free of charge to the residents. “The guys who came to the door explained it would help us reduce our bills so we were quite happy to have the insulation. Some of our neighbours refused it and now they all look different I think the neighbours regret not doing it as they look so much better now.”

Mr Sykes has been very satisfied with everyone involved in the scheme. “We weren’t disturbed too much, they had to take pictures off of the walls when installing the solid wall insulation and the noise reverberated through the walls for a few hours but they were all really polite and worked really hard all throughout the bad weather so it’s not been a bad experience at all.”

Having the reassurance that the council and other partners were behind the scheme put the Sykes mind at rest. “Since we have had the insulation, we have been able to remove the electric fire and have turned the gas central heating thermostat down by 4 degrees so hopefully we should see a huge improvement on our next quarterly bill.”

The solid wall insulation has also improved the appearance of the Sykes’ home dramatically. “It’s absolutely marvellous, I remember when these were built they were nice at the beginning but they were eventually given the name of the ‘concrete jungle’ but now it’s a pleasure to sit out. Not only have they done the main walls, they have redone the pebble-dashed end wall so it all looks much cleaner and modern.”

The Sykes have always been conscious of wasting energy having turned all their appliances off at the plug every night. “The only thing to stay on at night is our fridge freezer and an electric alarm clock.” Now the solid wall insulation has helped the Skyes’ to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions as well as help the couple to save money.

My Sykes would definitely recommend The Big Energy Upgrade scheme to a friend “If anybody takes up the scheme they will be well pleased if they get the results we were able to. Even though the property belongs to the council, were living in it and are able to benefit from it which is great”.

For more information on the Big Energy Upgrade contact Yorkshire Energy Services on 0800 052 7496.