Energy Saving Plan Builder
Get advice on the energy saving measures that will work for your home with our new online tool Energy Saving Plan Builder.
We've worked with Chichester District Council and Parity Projects to provide this free-to-use online tool for Horsham District and Chichester District residents. Both district councils have declared a Climate Emergency and this online tool is a personalised way that we can support homeowners to understand the benefits of home changes and the potential costs involved.
The tool can help you to:
- make changes to your home to reduce the amount of energy you use
- make your home more comfortable to live in
- reduce your carbon emissions
- potentially increase the value of your home.
How it works
Simply put in your postcode, choose your address and your goal, and suitable energy-saving measures will be suggested for you along with average costs for the works.
Did you know: In the Horsham district over half of carbon emissions are associated with energy used in buildings, and over 80% of the buildings in the district are homes. This tool is a great way for residents to understand retrofit options available and likely costs.
Your data
The online tool uses a number of sources of publicly available and licensed datasets and mapping information, including Royal Mail address, EPC databases and Ordnance Survey data. Parity Projects Ltd, part of Cotality, use this information in a sophisticated combination to understand how homes perform and what the most likely options are to improve them.
There is no need to add any of your own personal data to use the tool. You are given the option to add your email address if you would like an energy saving plan to be sent to you or would like to create an account to edit the information presented on your home.
The district councils receive statistics on the number of plans produced but no personal data, such as email addresses or postal addresses used.
Horsham District Council and Chichester District Council are collaborating with Parity Projects to provide Energy Saving Plan Builder. Parity Projects provide the software platform and are part of the CoreLogic group of companies.
Frequently Asked Questions
When we talk about retrofitting a home we mean improving the energy efficiency of a home through upgrading parts of the home. This could include insulation, double glazed windows, providing renewable energy, heating and hot water or ventilation systems and draught proofing.
Motivations to do this may include making your home more comfortable, less expensive to heat, keeping it warmer, healthier to live in and with reduced carbon emissions, or a combination of these.
Reduce my CO2 emissions provides a combination options for reducing use of fossil fuels and improving energy efficiency of homes to reduce energy bills.
Reduce my fuel bill provides options that prioritise energy efficiency to reduce energy bills, reducing carbon emissions is not prioritised.
Target Zero C02 emissions provides options that prioritise reducing carbon emissions, moving the home away from fossil fuel use.
Retrofit upgrades presented vary depending on what is feasible for your home, based on what the system knows of your home, and the budget you set, across any of the priority options.
In some cases, depending on the homes, the options can be the same or similar.
In other cases, and with a larger budget, bill cost reduction and carbon reduction options may be very different, such as replacing a gas or oil boiler with a heat pump.
Plan Builder uses a range of data sources, including the EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) database. If the EPC was recently produced and is an accurate representation of what your home is, how it’s constructed and what provides heating and hot water etc., it should be highly accurate. If there is no EPC, the system models the home based on nearby homes’ information. If this is not accurate, you can edit the information, if you register your email and login.
Specifying the heating energy source, such as gas or electric, is very important in getting the most useful results, knowing what type of heaters or boiler you have is much less important.
The options Plan Builder provide you are you provide a guide for and between the different upgrades you could make. You can turn options off and on to see the effect they make. Different homes and occupant usage will greatly impact costs and benefits.
We expect them to be most relevant where the system has the most accurate understanding of your home, your motivations (what you want to achieve) and budget available. We recommend professional advice is sought before committing to any works.
- Plan Builder uses a range of data sources, including the EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) database. If the EPC was recently produced and is an accurate representation of what your home is, how it’s constructed and what provides heating and hot water etc., it should be highly accurate. If there is no EPC, the system models the home based on nearby homes’ information. If this is not accurate, you can edit the information, if you register your email and login.
Specifying the heating energy source, such as gas or electric, is very important in getting the most useful results, knowing what type of heaters or boiler you have is much less important.
The options Plan Builder provide you are you provide a guide for and between the different upgrades you could make. You can turn options off and on to see the effect they make. Different homes and occupant usage will greatly impact costs and benefits.
We expect them to be most relevant where the system has the most accurate understanding of your home, your motivations (what you want to achieve) and budget available. We recommend professional advice is sought before committing to any works.
Professional advice is available from recognised roles such as Retrofit Coordinators, Retrofit Assessors and Retrofit Designers. Further information is available from:
- Trustmark trustmark.org.uk/find-a-tradesman
- Elmhurst Energy elmhurstenergy.co.uk/find-an-assessor/
- ECMK ecmk.co.uk/information/
- Stroma stroma.com/
- Quidos quidos.co.uk/
Plan Builder uses a range of data sources, including the EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) database. If there is no EPC, the system models the home based on nearby homes’ information. If this is not accurate, you can edit the information, if you register your email and login.
If you wish to obtain an Energy Performance Certificate, you’ll need to pay for one provided by a Domestic Energy Assessor. A search engine will give you options for local providers. We recommend you shop around, you could expect to pay in the region of £50-100. You only need a valid EPC if you’re renting or selling your home.
An EPC will also give you suggestion on improvements to your home based on reduced the cost of energy, rather than reducing carbon emissions.
The costs Plan Builder provide are offered as a reasonably realistic guide. The cost of building work and allied services and trades has risen over recent years as well as the cost of materials and transporting them. Quotes and estimates for works will vary.
As energy process have risen in recent years, this increases manufacturing and distribution costs, in turn increasing costs of goods and services.
Homeowners and landlords may have equity in their homes and may have the opportunity to access this. Some mortgage lenders have arrangements or products to support retrofit of homes. Some retrofit upgrades may be done at a suitable point in time, such as when the heating and hot water system replacement is due. Independent financial advice should be sought re. any financial arrangements or financial products.
Grants may assist some owners and tenants in certain circumstances. Please refer to HDC’s Home Energy Grants and Funding webpage for more information.
For context, around £15bn is spent every year to install around 1.3m new kitchens across the UK (Retrofitting homes for net zero, HC 453, House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, May 2025).
Why we are providing this service
Both district councils have declared a Climate Emergency and this online tool is a way we can support homeowners to understand the benefits of changes that can be made to homes and the costs of making these changes that reduce energy use an carbon emissions.
In the Horsham district, over of half of carbon emissions are associated with energy used in buildings, and over 80% of the buildings in the district are homes.
Heritage (pre-1900) and atypical homes
Energy Saving Plan Builder is best suited to ‘typical’ homes built from 1900.
The tool is less suitable for homes that are atypical in the materials used, of less common construction types, conversions of agricultural buildings, or heritage buildings including those which are listed or in Conservation Area.
If you live in a heritage or atypical home we suggest you contact our Planning team, where our Pre Application planning advice service can provide a home visit to discuss your retrofitting options.
Professional advice is also available from a RICS Building Conservation Accredited Surveyor, who provide a register of providers.
Free additional information relating to energy efficiency and the retrofit of heritage homes is available from Historic England and Historic Environment Scotland:
- Adapting Historic Buildings for Energy and Carbon Efficiency, Historic England Advice Note 18 (HEAN 18) – Historic England
- Guide to Energy Retrofit of Traditional Buildings – Historic Environment Scotland
- Webinar recordings (26 webinars across various topics including dwelling retrofit and climate change) – Historic England
