Around a million families and hundreds of businesses will be helped to cut their energy use, as part of the government’s latest attempt to reach net zero.

The government says that families will benefit from a range of options to heat their home for less and reduce emissions through energy efficiency measures, such as insulation for around 500,000 homes and hundreds of thousands more grants for heat pumps.

According to the government, its 50% increase in the heat pump grant to £7,500 has already led to a 57% increase in applications. An additional £1.5 billion of funding will ensure more homes and businesses can install heat pumps, helping people transition easily to the modern, clean heating systems needed to become a net zero nation, the government has claimed.

The Future Homes and Buildings Standards, recently launched for consultation, will aim to ensure new homes and buildings are fit for the future and help meet net zero ambitions. Energy-saving changes will deliver significantly lower bill costs than the vast majority of existing homes, while also reducing carbon emissions by at least 75% for all new homes compared to 2013 standards.

Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said: ”Cutting energy bills is my top priority. Today’s funding will help those who are most in need and keep around a million more families warm during winter.

“Everyone deserves to live in a warm, energy efficient home. We have already made excellent progress with nearly 50% of properties in England now having an Energy Performance Certificate of C – up from just 14% in 2010.

“This funding will help us go even further and improve 200,000 cold, low income and social homes.”

Mike Thornton, Chief Executive at Energy Saving Trust, said: “Improving the energy efficiency of our homes and accelerating the electrification of heat are both vital for reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels, achieving the UK’s net zero targets and permanently lowering people’s energy bills.

“We welcome these new schemes and additional funding, which will help provide much needed incentives to encourage more people to upgrade their homes. We look forward to learning more about the detail including plans for roll out and engagement, as well as how we can help the UK government to ensure they are as successful as possible in supporting people to get the right measures into their homes.”

Adam Scorer, National Energy Action Chief Executive Adam, said: “Today’s announcement is to be welcomed. Any improvements in energy efficiency for low-income households is a move in the right direction. Some continuity for local authority projects is especially important.

“But the scale of this announcement is small relative to the challenge at hand and will not reach some of those in greatest need. While hundreds of thousands will receive support, millions will remain in fuel poverty. And the announcement does nothing to help those private renters living in cold and damp homes that are impossible to heat affordably.

“For all that we welcome the future investment, those struggling to keep warm and to cope with record levels of debt this winter need something to make their plight easier, and they need it now. For now, the lack of support means National Energy Action will continue to see low-income households take severe measures to reduce their energy use and avoid impossible debt.”

Nicholas Harris, Chief Executive at Stonewater said: “The news that the government is releasing a further £1.5bn to help the rollout of heat pumps in England and Wales, as well as providing more support for heat networks and installing energy efficiency measures, is extremely welcome.

“Prior to the autumn statement, we had called for an extension in funding for the retrofitting and decarbonisation of homes, and heat pumps are one of the simplest and increasingly cheapest ways of doing this.

“With only just over half (around 56%) of social housing stock meeting EPC band C standard, funding streams like this are crucial if we are to be in with any chance of meeting the governments, and our own, net zero ambitions.

“Having said that, I would continue to urge the government to commit to a long-term plan of funding for the decarbonisation of homes and transition away from gas, giving Stonewater and others in the housing sector the confidence to invest and plan effectively, expand the supply chain and support the heat pump manufacturing industry to grow with confidence.”