Kevin Jones, from Hereford, desperately wants his home to be green – after all, he has spent a good deal of his working life pushing companies towards net zero deadlines far sooner than the Government’s own 2050 target.
After 23 years in the military, Mr Jones, 54, became a finance manager, tasked with finding ways to improve his company’s energy efficiency to meet its shareholders’ desire for zero carbon emissions by 2030, saving them £3.8m. Now on the cusp of moving to the RSPCA, Mr Jones wants to make his home as green as his career.
He says: “I thought at the end of the day, I need to do what I do at work at home. I have all the ideas – the only drawback is the cash issue.
Mr Jones says his fixed-rate energy deal recently expired, doubling his bills as a result. His fixed-rate mortgage is also set to run out in September – an uninviting prospect given interest rates remain high.
Mr Jones’s home is roughly 60 years old. Originally built in 1962, it already has some of the hallmarks of a net zero home: chief among which is a hybrid car, bought on finance. He and his wife are frugal with their energy
use, opting to “put a jumper on rather than the heating”.
Now Mr Jones is now lining up a few more improvements, including a fully electric car, but his big dream is to install solar panels. The cash issue remains, however, and Mr Jones estimates his budget to be around £5,000
at a push, assuming a system will one day pay itself back.
“I know I’ll need a battery as well, and I am hoping the payback will be around five years,” he says. Mr Jones is aware such a large investment will mean cutting back in other areas. “I still want to live comfortably, but
maybe if we miss a couple of holidays or something we can afford it,” he suggests.
To help with this, Mr Jones has moved onto a specialised EV energy tariff, which will charge him less for the electricity he uses at off-peak hours. The tariff saves Mr Jones £150 a month, he claims, as he charges his car
overnight when rates are cheaper.
“I’ve done all the quick wins,” he says. “I’ve got loft insulation, all the lights are LED, but the day-to-day running of the house and the mortgage are not cheap.“I know all the good things that net zero can bring, but just cannot seem to get to the next level.”