Plus Dane partners with Next Energy

Plus Dane Housing, with more than 14,500 homes across Cheshire and Merseyside, has confirmed Next Energy as its partner for the next 5-years, to help deliver sustainability and warm home improvements to hundreds of customer homes. 

The new contract has been awarded following a competitive procurement process, and work will support the delivery of £10m investment in our homes.

Next Energy is supporting us to improve the Energy Efficiency rating of our homes as we work towards our goal to make all homes C rated or above by 2030.   

The contract will help improve hundreds of our homes, making them more efficient to keep warm in winter through a range of home improvements including wall insulation, solar (PV) panels and replacement windows. 

Chris Morris, our executive director for Customer, Communities and Homes, said: “We are excited about what this new contract will deliver. We have worked closely with Next Energy over the past 3 years. Through our partnership we have far exceeded our Warm Homes Wave 2 programme goals by completing 185% delivery, compared to the national average completion rate of under 35%. This new contract will build on this success; to help us make sure all our customers live in homes rated EPC Band C or above by the end of the decade and deliver meaningful social value for our customers and communities.” 

Social value has also been built into the partnership, with Next Energy working with us to create wider benefits for our customers and communities. This is expected to include green skills and employment opportunities, energy advice for customers, support for community projects and buildings, and increased local spend across Cheshire and Merseyside. As part of the previous contract, a Plus Dane customer secured employment with Next Energy and he has now moved on to full-time employment in the energy sector. 

Since 2023, Next Energy has helped us to deliver £17m worth of efficiency improvements to 1,181 homes through damp remedial work, internal and cavity wall insulations, under floor insulations, and more than 900 solar panel (PV) installations. 

The partnership has also won several sector awards over the past three years, including Regional Housing Association of the Year at the 2025 Energy Efficiency Awards (North West), and just last week we picked up the National Multi-Measure Project of the Year at the (National) Energy Efficiency Awards 2026.  

Lee Thomas, senior contracts manager, Next Energy said: “We are delighted to have secured this new contract with Plus Dane. Having worked closely together over the past three years, we have seen first-hand the positive impact that a collaborative approach can have on delivering energy efficiency improvements for residents. 

"The success of our partnership is a testament to the strong relationship between our teams, particularly our close work with the Plus Dane sustainability team. We look forward to building on this success, delivering further improvements to homes across the region and helping more residents benefit from warmer, more energy-efficient homes, while supporting wider decarbonisation ambitions.” 

Maria O'Connor, head of operations, Next Energy, added: “We're excited about the next five years and continuing to make a real difference to people's homes and lives across the L8 community.” 

The sustainability improvements over the past three years have been supported by match funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.  Last year Plus Dane completed wave two, year three of the Social Housing Decarbonisation fund at a project cost of £11.7m, with 812 homes in total benefiting from works. A further £1.2m was invested in year one of the renamed Warm Homes Fund Wave three, with 63 homes either fully completed or at final sign-off stages during 2025/26.