With energy prices still at record highs and only weeks to go before Government support for home energy bills is lowered, new figures from a YouGov survey of homeowners, commissioned by Deceuninck, found that 90% of homeowners were very worried or worried about the price of energy.

The telephone survey of over 2,000 homeowners conducted in March found that concern about home energy costs was a key driver of sales with 44% stating that despite the associated cost of living crisis, higher energy costs made them more likely to spend on energy saving home improvements. Energy-efficient windows and doors topped the list of home energy efficiency measures (13%). Solar panels came second at 12%; a new boiler 10%; with cavity wall and heat pumps each polling around 5%.

Energy efficient windows and doors are a far more tangible energy-efficient home improvement compared to cavity wall insulation, and with continuing pressure on energy prices, energy efficiency will continue to drive sales for a long time to come. The findings reinforce what many companies have experienced first-hand since April last year, which is that the record highs we’ve seen in energy prices have driven window and door sales and go some way to explaining the high levels of demand we have continued to see this year.

Electricity prices increased by 67% in the 12-months to February, while gas rose by 129% taking average bills beyond the £2,500 a year mark. Wholesale energy prices have fallen, but they remain historically high, and the Energy Price Guarantee, which was extended in March’s budget for three months and helped to keep a lid on bills, runs out in a few weeks’ time.

The YouGov survey found that continuing high energy prices would encourage approaching 30% of respondents to invest in energy saving home improvements, while 57% said a government grant scheme to help lower energy bills would make them more likely to invest.

With a UK head office and production in Calne, Deceuninck is No 3 globally for innovative, high performance, sustainable PVC-U window and door systems. We also supply aluminium systems. A network of fabricators throughout the UK and Ireland make Deceuninck windows and doors for residential, commercial and housebuilding.