Snugg awarded close to £2m by UK Gov to develop Green Home Hub

The UK Government has awarded Snugg close to £2 million to develop the Green Home Hub (GHH) with finance partners Perenna and Scroll.

The funding was provided by the Green Home Finance Accelerator (GHFA) – a UK Government initiative, funded through the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) – on behalf of the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero.

This follows our announcement last May where the Department awarded Snugg £170,000 to successfully develop a prototype of the GHH.

What is the Green Home Hub?

The GHH will be a digital platform that enables banks and energy providers to help their customers make their homes more energy efficient.

The hub will be integrated with a wide range of data sources to quickly and effectively assess which improvements are most suitable for the customer’s home. It will calculate the costs and potential savings of various installations, including identifying suitable financing options and grants that could bring the installation costs down.

Like our existing solution, the GHH will allow homeowners to track the costs and progress of their installation. It will also monitor energy and carbon emissions reductions in real time.

Who are partners Perenna and Scroll Finance?

The GHH will integrate with various data sources and industry partners to ensure that home assessments and installation recommendations are accurate and accessible.

We’ve chosen two lead finance providers:

• Perenna to provide green mortgage options for homeowners who are interested in spreading the cost of an installation over a longer loan term and minimise their monthly payments.
• Scroll Finance to provide its innovative Green Shared Equity Mortgage product for homeowners who prefer to take out credit.

Arjan Verbeek, CEO at Perenna Bank says, “We’re excited to be partnering with Snugg on this GHFA project as they further develop their Green Home Hub. Perenna offers a unique financing solution – flexible long-term fixed rate mortgages - for homeowners interested in retrofitting and we look forward to working with the team at Snugg to integrate our products into their excellent customer journey. Collaboration across industries is vital for retrofitting to take off at scale in the UK and this project will help drive this forward.”

Ashish Kashyap, CEO and Founder at Scroll Finance says, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Snugg and offering our novel Green Shared Equity Mortgage product in the Green Home Hub.  We are grateful for the support of the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and hope that we can together build a scaled solution for retrofits in the UK.” 

In addition to providing data services, both Perenna and Scroll Finance will contribute to various stages of the GHH’s development.

What does this mean for homeowners?

Since Snugg’s launch in early 2023, we’ve helped thousands of people begin their journey to a more energy efficient home. Now, the GHH will enable large banks and energy providers to offer the same service to millions more homeowners across the UK.

By offering an experience integrated with a customer’s bank or energy provider, homeowners will more easily:

• Increase their awareness of the benefits of making their homes more energy efficient.
• Access a simple end-to-end platform to manage their installation.
• Identify which upgrades are suitable and affordable.
• Review costs, grant eligibility and potential financial and carbon emission savings.
• Monitor the ongoing impact of installations.

Underpinning the GHH is our ambition to help the UK achieve net zero by 2050. With some important government net zero policy being watered down or scrapped in 2023, we see the GHH as being more important than ever.

Robin Peters, our CEO, says, “Receiving the UK Government’s backing to build the Green Home Hub is a win for everyone. Millions of homeowners will be able to improve their home’s energy efficiency more easily and affordably than before. Banks and energy providers will have better opportunity to progress their journey towards Net Zero. And we’ll all benefit from lower energy demand and improved air quality as more homes are retrofitted to higher energy efficiency standards.”