Use our home energy planning tool for a more energy efficient home

Home energy planning tool

Use our free tool and we'll build you a personalised plan to help you lower your energy bills

Start your plan

Residential properties are responsible for a fifth of the UK’s CO2 emissions. If we're to reach the government's net zero emissions target by 2050, millions of us will need to make our homes more sustainable and energy efficient.

From adding new tech such as solar panels or heat pumps, to making updates like improving your insulation or installing underfloor heating, what's right for you will depend on your home, your budget and your ambitions.

It's not easy to know what will best suit you, who to trust for accurate advice, what the costs might be and who to choose to do the actual work. 

Which is where our home energy planning tool comes in. It will help you to:

• Explore your options with confidence
• Build a personalised plan 
• Make choices that work for your budget
• Find an installer you can trust
• Improve your home’s energy rating
• Lower your energy bills
• Reduce your carbon footprint 

Get clear on home energy efficiency

Our home energy planning tool gives you the know-how to make the right decisions for improving the energy efficiency of your home according to your means, and for approaching installers with confidence.

To start using the tool, register with your name and email – if you're a Which? member it’s best to register with the same email address you use for Which? – then enter your postcode and select your address. 

The tool then shows you data about your home, helps you decide on the improvements you could make and gives you ballpark costs and an idea of what you could save on your energy bills. It also checks for available grants, provides information on ways to pay and can help you find trusted installers to do the work.

The estimated costs and savings are based on your property type, size, age and location and on assumptions about the number of people living there and their energy usage, using data from Energy Saving Trust.  

Tracey's story: "being able to cut through all the noise is very challenging"

Tracey has lived in her terraced house with her son for about 30 years. She consciously tries to run an energy efficient home, prompted by the desire to control her energy bills and a concern about climate change.  

When thinking about more significant changes she could make to her home, Tracey says, "Despite having studied related subjects, I find myself ploughing through the reams of information, and coming across things that are utterly contradictory. You end up feeling paralysed with indecision."  

We showed Tracey an early version of our home energy planning tool. "It’s a great place to start," she said. "Easy to use – you can play around with it and change some of the parameters to see how that might affect what’s suggested."

As well as helping her with details about adding solar panels to her home, the tool also enabled her to explore other low-carbon energy options and to rule them out. "I’ll be looking at heat pumps down the road. But when I look at what it’s going to cost me to run, for how I need to heat my house now, I think I’ll just put on a jumper."

Jonathan's story: "I wish I'd had this 18 months ago"

When he moved into a converted barn with his partner last year, Jonathan needed to make big decisions on how to heat his home and generate electricity efficiently.

Jonathan found much of what he needed by reading through Which? articles on home heating. When we showed him our new home energy planning tool he said, "I just wish I’d had this 18 months ago. I was willing to put in the legwork to do the research myself, but most people won’t be. This tool shows you the options available for your home and points you towards the information you need."

"The grants section was very helpful. It’s a nightmare trying to find what grants exist. This covers all the grants available. It told me I didn’t qualify for anything, but that is what I needed to know, so I don’t keep thinking I might have been entitled to something I didn’t get."

In the end, Jonathan opted for an oil boiler, deciding against a heat pump because the barn didn’t have the right insulation, which would have been beyond his scope to put right. 

He explored his options and got quotes with installers and other traders, both Which? Trusted Traders and recommendations from neighbours. "The direct link from the planning service to Which? Trusted Traders will help people to find recommended companies more easily," he said.