The third phase of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) will open for new applications from 16 March, the Department for Energy & Climate Change has announced.

The new release of funding will have a budget of £70m, with up to £5,600 available to households in England and Wales to help with the cost of installing certain energy saving measures, such as solid wall insulation, double glazing, boilers, cavity wall and floor insulation.

More than 25,000 households have already received a voucher for the GDHIF since it launched in June 2014.

For the third release of funding, money has been increased for the two measures offer. Domestic energy customers will be able to receive:

• up to £3750 for installing solid wall insulation;
• and/or up to £1250 for installing two measures from an approved list;
• up to £100 refunded for their Green Deal Assessment;
• up to £500 more if applying within 12 months of buying a new home.

The £70 million for the third release will be available for applications for solid wall insulation and/or the two measures offer until all the funding is allocated.

Martin Lewis, founder and editor of MoneySavingExpert.com, said: “There’s nothing that generates action better than free cash – which is what effectively the Home Improvement Fund is. So yet again demand is likely to be huge - the first time it was done £120m went in six weeks, then £24m went within 48 hours, so this time I suspect £70m to last not much longer than a week.

“I’d suggest anyone who has already had a Green Deal assessment to be ready to pounce to make sure they aren’t left out in the cold. For those who haven’t but are interested, first do a quick online check which will tell you if it’s worth getting an assessment, if it is, then try and arrange one as soon as possible.”

To complete the two-stage application process, householders will need:

• A Green Deal Advice Report (GDAR) or Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) that is less than two years old;
• A quote from a GDHIF registered installer or provider for work specified on the GDAR or EPC and included on the list of GDHIF approved measures; and
• Proof of property ownership (for landlords/undertakings only) Householders are encouraged to get more than one quote, particularly when they are having expensive work done, to make sure they are getting the best deal available.

Roger Webb, director of the Heating & Hotwater Industry Council said: “We welcome the reopening of the scheme in principle and are pleased to see an increase in monies available for installing the two measures from £1000 to £1250.

“However as the types of measures that are eligible under the scheme remain unchanged it will continue to be difficult to create a workable package for homeowners. This is why £5.5 million is still unallocated from the last round of funding.

“A further troubling area is the insistence that installers must be PAS20/30 accredited in order to work on this scheme – with only a handful of the 122,000 gas safe registered engineers approved homeowners often struggle to find tradespeople authorised to carry out the work. HHIC continue to meet and discuss the scheme with officials at DECC but we are under no illusions that the much needed overhaul will happen this side of the General Election.”

Funds are limited and DECC may vary the terms of the scheme (including the incentive rates) or suspend or close the scheme, with immediate effect, without notice and at any time.

For more information, see how the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund works and how to apply.