The product is funded by the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio under the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero as part of its Green Home Finance Accelerator. The latter was established to support the design and development of green finance products to improve energy efficiency and retrofitting.
Perenna has previously been allocated £193,350 to develop the product in May last year.
The retrofit mortgage product will focus on homes that need their energy efficiency improved as opposed to those that are already energy efficient.
It will offer the benefits of its flexible long-term fixed rate mortgage with the additional benefits of a green rate discount as customers who complete the qualifying retrofit will be moved to a lower rate.
Customers with larger mortgages could save £60 per month, equal to £720 per year and £21,600 over 30 years assuming they don’t remortgage by opting for the green discount. This coupled with energy bill savings could be significant for borrowers.
The project will last for 12 months and the consortium plans, which includes Heatio and Energy Systems Catapult, to launch its pilot this summer.
Heatio will offers installation and savings verification and once the product is live, Energy System Catapult will conduct qualitative and quantitative research on the consumer experience.
Arjan Verbeek (pictured), founder and CEO of Perenna, said: “Perenna wants to change the narrative on renewable energy technologies. There are too many obstacles currently to retrofitting a property, with confusing offers and unclear steps on what to do. This needs to change if we want to solve one of the biggest challenges for achieving net zero.
“We are delighted to be part of the Green Home Finance Accelerator and have the opportunity to work with Heatio and Energy Systems Catapult to pilot an innovative mortgage product that combines long term security with improvements in home energy efficiency.”
