South Ayrshire Council and the Energy Agency have secured more than £800,000 in funding from the Scottish Government to allow householders benefit from a range of home energy improvements.

Improvements works include solid wall, cavity and loft insulation, which will allow people to live in dry, warm and energy efficient homes and ultimately meet one of the key aims of the Council's Local Housing Strategy.

Awarded via the Home Energy Efficient Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS), the £808,578 is part of a wider national package of £46m being made available to all 32 local authorities.

The award will also help build on the successful free home insulation and energy efficiency schemes, offered by the Council and managed by the Energy Agency in 2011 and 2012.

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Installing energy efficiency measures is an important way of reducing the amount of energy needed to heat a home, so helping to reduce household energy bills. This means households will not only be less likely to suffer from fuel poverty, they will have more comfortable homes and will be reducing their carbon footprint.

Councillor John McDowall, Portfolio Holder for Sustainability and Environment, welcomed the news, saying: "This is brilliant news for South Ayrshire and the money will help us further target homes most in need of fuel efficiency measures.

"It will also allow us to lever in additional funding of approximately £400,000 from utility companies, bringing the overall funding package for South Ayrshire to over £1.2 million.

"The measures we're proposing will help the most vulnerable people in our communities to reduce their household energy bills and live in comfortable and energy efficient homes in the months and years ahead."

The scheme will run from June 2013 to March 2014 and will adopt a 'whole-house' approach, with qualifying households will be contacted shortly by letter.

Those who qualify will include:

• Households in the bottom15% Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)
• Rural households that are not on the gas supply grid and in Council Tax Band A or B
• Households anywhere in South Ayrshire who meet the 'Affordable Warmth' criteria (usually homes that are in receipt of certain benefits)

(JP/CD)