Citizens Advice research project

What is this project?

We are carrying out an important research project for Citizens Advice about the advice homeowners need when making energy improvements to their homes.

This research will hear directly from homeowners across England, Wales, and Scotland who have made energy improvements to their homes since 2024, so we can learn from their experiences.

Whether you received a grant for all or part of the work, or fully self-funded your journey, we want to hear from you. Your experiences will help Citizens Advice support homeowners better and influence government policy.

Why do we need it?

Recent research by Citizens Advice shows that not having good advice can stop people from making energy improvements.

Right now:

• Advice about energy-saving improvements can be variable and inconsistent, with significant gaps in some areas for certain types of improvements and for certain groups of households.

• Homeowners with lower incomes are often particularly badly served.

• Energy efficiency advice is often generic, idealised and high level, or hard to apply to real-life situations.

Homeowners are rarely involved in creating advice, and there is a lack of research based on real experiences to show which approaches work best.

Through this project, we want to find out:

• Where independent advice is most helpful, and

• Which ways of giving advice work best for different types of homeowners.

Why get involved?

This is an opportunity to:

• share your experience of getting energy improvements with others.

• support Citizens Advice in better advocating for the interests of householders and influence government policy.

• be in with a chance of winning a hamper worth £100 for completing the survey.

• get payment for your involvement in more in-depth research.

By sharing your experience you’ll be helping to shape the future of better energy advice in the UK, supporting householders just like you.

Who can get involved?

We want to hear from people who:

• own their own home across England, Wales and Scotland

• have made certain energy improvements to their homes:

  • Low carbon heating systems - like heat pumps

  • Insulation and upgrades to windows and doors

  • Ventilation systems

  • Renewable energy generation and storage (solar PV and/or battery systems)

• Ideally within the last 2 years (2024 onwards).

Every householder that gets involved will be kept up-to-date with findings from the research and next steps, if they want to.

How you can get involved

There are 3 main ways you can get involved in shaping this important research:

Step 1 - we are here

This short survey is the first part of the process, and will help us understand the kind of work you’ve done, how you rated the process, and a bit about you and where you live. These survey responses are important to make sure we’re speaking to a wide range of people, in a wide range of places. We estimate that the survey will take you around 5 minutes to complete. Click here to go to the survey.

Step 2

If invited, the second stage of research will be an opportunity to give a richer account of your experience - including the types of advice you accessed or needed at different stages, and how this impacted on your experience. You can do this through an interview (online or by phone), or by attending one of four regional workshops.

Step 3

A final workshop (online) will bring together a smaller group of households to confirm the findings and themes from interviews and regional workshops. This is your chance to be further involved in recommendations that will shape the future of energy advice at a national level.

Payment for your involvement

• If you complete the survey by 5pm on Friday 13th February 2026 you will be entered into a prize draw to win a hamper worth £100.

• By participating in an interview, you will receive a £25 payment.

• By participating in an in-person workshop, you will receive a £100 payment (plus a contribution to travel costs, capped at £20).

These payments are made as a thanks for your time and valuable contribution. It’s important that you read the Participant Information Sheet to understand whether this involvement is right for you.

How will your data be used?

Data from interviews and workshops will be written up and used in data analysis. Your name and personal details will not be attributed. Thematic findings will be included in final reports and presentations to Citizens Advice, who may publish reports drawing on the evidence.

Your participation is voluntary, and you can stop at any time. All information you provide will be kept confidential and stored securely in line with data protection regulations (including GDPR). Your responses will only be used for the purposes of this study.

More detailed information will be given at different points in the research. We do this to make sure that you know how specific activities will run, what kind of data will be collected, how this will be used and who this will be shared with - and that you are comfortable with taking part.

Who commissioned it?

This research has been commissioned by Citizens Advice.

Who is delivering it?

• People Powered Retrofit - leading the project, PPR is a not for profit Community Benefit Society delivering householder services and consultancy projects around retrofit.

• Changeworks - deliver services in energy advice, retrofit management, and decarbonisation solutions, alongside independent consultancy. They are also a registered charity in Scotland.

• Futureproof Cumbria - work across Cumbria to enable individuals, communities, businesses and local authorities to reduce the county’s carbon footprint and bring about a more sustainable way of life. They are also a registered charity.

• National Retrofit Hub - a nonprofit organisation that brings together all those involved in retrofit to collectively drive and accelerate the local delivery of retrofit at scale.

• Nottingham Trent University - Kate Simpson is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Sustainable Construction and Retrofit, whose work is centered in retrofit, renovation and maintenance practice to ensure sustainable and healthy homes.

We’re grateful to our wider connections across the UK for spreading the word. You may have received this link from one of them.

Who is working on this?

At People Powered Retrofit, our core team is:

• Jonathan Atkinson

• Misty Hay

• Helen Grimshaw