We have to acknowledge that net zero is a hard sell for some of our customers

This poll, and subsequent ones, showed there is public buy-in for sustainability initiatives. But if we’re going to take customers on this journey, it’s not just a case of doing the work and saddling some of the costs, we must genuinely engage with them, build confidence and gain their trust to accept that all this disruption will be worth it.

In Cumbria, we invested £3m on a whole-house retrofit of 90 homes in Abbeytown and Oughterside, supported by wave one of the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).

In support of this and integral to its success, we created an extensive customer engagement plan, which included workshops to outline the works and new technologies, as well as one-to-one engagement and full training on how to use the heat pumps effectively.

Among those customers whose homes we retrofitted was Queenie Fearon, who has seen dramatic savings in her energy bills. Queenie was initially hesitant about the changes, like many of us would be, unsure about changing from a system she already understood.

When we spoke with Queenie, she explained: “I’ll be honest, at first, I was really concerned about the cost. With the old system I knew how to work out my bills out.

“But I found my bills are excellent. If you know how to work the system, the houses are so well insulated that it shouldn’t cost a lot.”

What was vital to making Queenie feel comfortable in adopting the new technology was how it was explained to her by us and by our contractors. For her to feel safe and comfortable with the new technology, which included a modern heat pump and solar panels, we had to ensure we explained it in a bespoke manner, in a way that was tailored specifically to how she learned best.

Queenie told us this was what made the biggest difference: “I’m comfortable with the new system because I understand it. I just told them, ‘I’m nearly 70 and I’ve got autism, I’ve got disabilities, but I need to understand what you’re doing for me’.

“They got me a book and were very, very patient with me. I understand my heating system. If I’m unsure on something, I can look in the book or I can ring someone up and I know what the problem is and can tell them – it is a very big help.”

“We created an extensive customer engagement plan, which included workshops to outline the works and new technologies”

“When you live alone and don’t have close family, and you’ve got a disability, and there’s big changes, it is very invasive. So to have someone go through everything and have the patience to clearly explain it, has made such a big difference.”

With 5,000 homes planned for retrofitting work as part of Home Group’s SHDF wave two bid – which it did as part of the Greener Futures Partnership – we aim to take the lessons learned from Cumbria with the likes of Queenie and other customers into our wider customer engagement strategy.

Ensuring customers feel listened to and supported to learn and understand what is being done to make their homes more efficient, as well as why, will go a long way in both securing and maintaining not only the government’s commitment to net zero, but the customers’ commitment, too.