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See the current status of UK electricity generation here

Funded by Suffolk's Public Sector Organisations, Suffolk Energy Assessment can come and assess your home - click here

6th January 2026

Want to see where your household heat is disappearing?

Thermal cameras pinpoint the sources of costly heat loss.

Between 6-30 January 2026, Heating Bildeston have cameras you can borrow or you could have us survey your house - either way it's free! We'll also have leaflets about Warm Homes Suffolk, a County Council grant towards wall and loft insulation, solar panels and air source heat pumps - see if you're eligible here.

There's more on our facebook page.

Do get in touch -

email - info@heatingbildeston.uk

phone - 01449 740876 or 07703570969

5 September (now known as Switch Together, try here)

Possibly the most effective technology you can use to save money and fight the climate problem is to install solar panels and, perhaps, batteries to make the panels even more effective. But how do you find unbiased advice and buy from trustworthy sources? And how can you be sure you're getting a good price? Well our local councils have teamed up with Solar Together to buy solar panel systems as a community group to save on the up-front cost. There's a good information page at https://solartogether.co.uk/blog

In the same way, there's a scheme to collectively switch your energy suppliers to save money. Also teamed up with our local councils and using 100% renewable electricity, Big Community Switch holds auctions with pre-vetted energy suppliers to compete for your custom and provide the most competitive price. Again the service is free and without obligation. Have a look at https://bigcommunityswitch.co.uk/babergh/home

1 March

Our Community Energy funded project, testing the feasibility of linking the Health Centre, the Primary School and Hill House flats in an energy scheme to replace their oil boilers with renewable energy via an ambient shared loop, is now complete. There turned out to be a lot of options from using new heating controls, installing solar PV panels and updating insulation to building a ground source heat pump network. Costs went from immediately implementable to challenging. The report runs to 57 pages and can be downloaded here or click the image. There's also a presentation that can be seen here.

16 August

Leila Tavendale, Principal Engineer from Locogen, spent all day gathering energy data from the Health Centre, Primary School and Hill House; our thanks to Louise, Carol and Billy respectively. It's the start of our feasibility study to decarbonise the energy supply at all three sites in as economic way as possible. All to play for!

Inspecting the solar controls at the school.

The boiler at the school that will need replacing.

Investigating solar PV possibilities - if we generate our own electricity then the costs of using heat pumps come down. It'll be a delicate balancing act to find the best solution.

2 April 2024

We've been awarded funding of £40,000 for a feasibility study for a new Pilot Project -

Heating Bildeston are now proposing to develop opportunities for cost effective low carbon energy solutions for electrical and heat demand for high energy consumers in the village. This Pilot Project will focus on a scheme for Bildeston Primary School and Bildeston Health Centre (the "Stakeholders”). Our rationale for this is:
• They are both high energy users
• Close proximity to each other
• Current oil fired heating systems approaching end-of-life
• The project will provide insight and data for future schemes throughout the village.

We have seven professional expert companies who will soon be bidding to carry out the study.

1 February update

We're surveying homes in Bildeston whose occupants have asked us to visit with Thermal Imaging Cameras, info@heatingbildeston.uk

And you can discover what your Energy Performance Rating (EPC) is here

The Suffolk Loft Insulation Grant - Suffolk’s Public Sector Leaders have teamed up with Travis Perkins to offer Suffolk residents a great deal on loft insulation. Not only can you buy loft insulation at a much reduced price, but you can also claim a further 50% discount (up to a maximum of £200) towards the final bill, and delivery is free!

Here's the Online Order Form

There's also more energy help at Grants – Green Suffolk

8 January

We're getting thermal cameras again this year (2024) from the end of January for use during the whole of February. Do get in touch if you'd like to know how your home is performing on info@heatingbildeston.uk

Our bulk buy scheme with Suffolk Community Network means we can supply you with loft insulation at half price from Travis Perkins -

Knauf Loft Roll 44 Combi Cut 200mm 1140 x 6.00m 6.84m2 Per Pack or

Knauf Loft Roll 44 Combi Cut 150mm 8050x1140mm

Discount price - £16.94 per pack

Let us know if you'd like buy by getting in touch so we can order for you.

1 December

There's a good guide to retrofitting your home available here.

1 October

The Bulk Buy scheme is now up and running and we've had our first orders.

We're also looking at the possibilities of community solar power and ways to trial community renewable heating.

13 April

Heating Bildeston is trying to help you stay warm all year long.
Our volunteer team gather information on ways you can better insulate and heat your home and how to access available grants,
especially if your household income is less then £46,000 a year.
Try heatingbildeston.uk/saving-energy to see what we’re talking about and let us know if we can come and talk about your house and saving energy by emailing info@heatingbildeston.uk or telephoning 01 449 740 876 to work out what best suits you.

At Heating Bildeston, we work towards net zero carbon emissions. We offer free energy reduction advice and participate in the Bulk Buy Scheme for household insulation measures of the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership (consisting of all of Suffolk’s Local Authorities) and with local PAS2035 retrofitters.

We're also working on new initiatives following our analysis of our present position - see here

23 February

Twenty people attended a 'Key Stakeholder' meeting at The Crown on 23 February to discuss Heating Bildeston and where we go from here. Joining us were representatives from Suffolk County Council, Bildeston Parish Council, Heathpatch, the Health Centre, the School and Taylor Made Joinery.

With a feasibility study showing that 90% of village carbon emissions could be cut but that infrastructure could cost £10-12m, funding has to be found for a next stage detailed project design. Whilst the original pathway is currently blocked, Heating Bildeston will do all it can to move ahead.

The Health Centre and the School both need to replace their oil systems and TMJ wants to upgrade their biomass system. There are possibilities for joint ventures and solutions that fit within Heating Bildeston's current focus on heat pumps and networks, alternative technologies , tackling insulation questions, funding and fuel poverty alleviation.

Heating Bildeston will continue to work with the community, while we await the change in the political climate that is urgently needed to enable the inevitable energy transition, to investigate and develop low carbon technologies at reasonable cost for all..

7 January

We had a very busy period of thermally photographing dozen's of Bildeston's homes just before Christmas. Surprisingly, we found that installing radiator reflectors really worked and don't cost much!

Hopefully the photographs and the advice we were able to give was useful and will lead to increased energy conservation, lower fuel bills and greater comfort.

If you'd like to discuss how well your house performs or could do, do get in touch at info@heatingbildeston.uk and we'll do our best to help.

7 December

Suffolk Climate Change Partnership, an initative of all the County's councils, has lent us thermal imaging cameras that can see how well heat is kept in our houses. Or, put another way, how much heat is leaking out! There's a poster available.

We're asking anybody in the village to let us come and photograph your house so we can help you use less heat, feel more comfortable and save money and the climate.

Just get in touch at info@heatingbildeston.uk to tell us when is a good time to call by. We'll be wearing Hi-Vis jackets.

6 October

28 September 2022

We're trying hard to fill funding gaps, but have had support in accessing funding 'for a rural green heat network scheme' -

"…from discussions we have had about the (Heating Bildeston) project it appears to be eligible for GHNF funding. The GHNF fund is £288m and must be spent by projects by the latest 31^st March 2025. Applications to the GHNF are assessed against all other projects received in that round and are ranked based on their score…" Lauren Bright, Triple Point Heat Networks.

6 September 2022

Draft feasibility report received 9th Sep from the external consultants - 2 week revision process underway to finalise the report.
Good news: several options are considered technically feasible and have a good chance of viability.
Heating Bildeston is considered important by the UK Government Green Energy funding departments “currently unique in being the most advanced rural district heat network project of it’s kind in the south of England."
Multiple approaches from other villages (8) / organisations for our advice, help and assistance in developing their own low-carbon heat networks.
Bad news: 'The rug was pulled’ - Government have cancelled the Rural Community Energy Fund (the RCEF provided funding for the feasibility report and was expected to fund the next development stage to 100%). But nobody wants the project to stall.
Alternative funding routes for the estimated next stage development funding (£150k) are less straightforward. 67% grant sources have been identified, work on the gap using “matched funding" is ongoing.
Good and ongoing support from Bildeston Parish Council and Babergh Mid-Suffolk, but we need to lobby/brief the political leaders in Suffolk CC and above to access further support.
Seeking alternative funding will cause a delay, we will use the time to develop a “test borehole” (to confirm flow and temperature assumptions and thereby de-risk the project).
Renewed focus on our insulation/retrofit strategy and path to ultimately support a reduction in local energy poverty.
New member joined the volunteer team bringing us to 7. This now adds a financial strategy skill-set to Heating Bildeston.
Heating Bildeston will celebrate 1 year since formation on 14th Sep. 2022.

20 July 2022

Townrock Energy, an award-winning geothermal energy consultancy that works with our consultants Scene Connect, has looked at the geology under Bildeston and found it to be very suitable for a heat pump network. They've also taken a preliminary look at what technologies would work and which wouldn't. Here's their initial appraisal, click for full size.

25 June 2022

Our public meeting, with over 70 attendees over two sessions, showed Bildeston's commitment to a low carbon heat network. A highly successful day that started with a familiarisation walkabout for Sandy Robinson from Scene Connect, followed by presentations from Chris Knock from Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Councils and from Sandy, who, building on the over 20% return rate of our Questionnaire, stated we use over 7,500MWh of fossil fuels producing over 1,700 tonnes of CO2 a year. A heat network would drastically reduce that dangerous pollution. We're 6 weeks into the feasibility study and by August we should have a clearer idea of what the network will look like and it's economic viability. Below is Sandy's presentation; for questions, he's at Sandy.r@scene.community.

11 June 2022

Public meeting on 25th June

Special event at Chamberlin Hall on Sat 25th June. We are being visited by Scene Connect who are the consultants working on our feasibility study. Scene will be doing a short presentation about low carbon heat networks - the sort of scheme we are hoping to install in our village.

We will be open from 2pm-4.30pm and the presentation will be at 2.30 and again at 3.30.

There will be plenty of opportunities for you to talk to the Scene consultants as well as the Heating Bildeston team.

And, if you haven't already, please bring along your completed Questionnaire.

29 May 2022

Questionnaire Progress

Over the last three weeks, we've printed and delivered the Energy Consumption Questionnaire personally to nearly every household in the village, all 512 of them. We're now collating the many replies so that Scene, our appointed consultants, can work out just how much energy we use and how. It'll be a core component of the Feasibility Study that will follow.

We're hoping to hold a Public Engagement Meeting soon so we can thank all those who participated in completing the Questionnaire - there is still time if you haven't yet. Your information about how much energy your household consumes is very important to our community. We're here to help if there's anything we can do to assist you - call Gordon Mehrtens (07456 737113) or Shaun Moffat (01449 257136).

1 May 2022 News Release

Grant Approved for Heating Bildeston Feasibility Study

The Rural Communities Energy Fund (RCEF) has awarded Heating Bildeston nearly £33,000 to engage expert consultants to undertake a Feasibility Study to identify how we might install and run a renewable energy district heating system throughout Bildeston. If feasible, the new system would be the first of its kind in East Anglia.

As a rural Suffolk community, Bildeston is mainly reliant of fossil fuels for heating and hot water. With the important need to reduce our carbon footprint and to combat the volatile and rapidly rising energy prices, a group of residents formed Heating Bildeston to address this problem. The RCEF are a natural partner as they provide grants to enable rural communities like Bildeston to explore renewable energy possibilities.

With this funding, the group have commissioned Scene Connect as consultants to deliver a feasibility study which will look at the most economical and environmentally sound solution to deliver heat to homes and businesses throughout Bildeston.

An important element of this study will be to understand how much energy the system will need to generate. Heating Bildeston plan to undertake a survey of residents’ energy usage. A Village Questionnaire has been designed to enable Heating Bildeston to gauge current usage from every interested home and business. This data will ensure that the system to be installed is can be made fit for purpose even on the coldest and busiest days.

Heating Bildeston aim to start circulating these questionnaires throughout during May. The Feasibility study will take approximately three months to complete and results will follow later this year.

If you want to find out more about Heating Bildeston see our website at heatingbildeston.uk or call Gordon Mehrtens (07456 737113) or Shaun Moffat (01449 257136).

12 April 2022

After three months of intensive work, we have now been awarded £33,000 in funding from the Rural Community Energy Fund for a feasibility study that will work out the most suitable and economic way of bringing low-carbon district heating to our homes. We've analysed the consultant tenders and selected which team of experts offer the best match for our project. The next stage will be to identify just how much energy all our homes use. Heating Bildeston and our consultants will prepare a questionnaire and hope to speak to every Bildeston household. More information to follow in next month’s Bugle.

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Research Visit

The Heating Bildeston team recently visited Swaffham Prior in Cambridgeshire where a similar scheme is now being installed. We received a warm welcome, an abundance of great advice and a promise to support Heating Bildeston through our journey. You can find out more at heatingswaffhamprior.co.uk