Our not-so-secret recipe for retrofit: how we worked with Metis by SMS to turn Net Zero ambition into local action – Dale Hoyland, Oxfordshire Retrofit Lead
Summary
As Retrofit Team Lead at Oxfordshire County Council, Dale Hoyland has spent the past two years helping residents take practical steps toward a low-carbon future. Here, he reflects on the lessons learned from working with Metis by SMS to turn energy interest into action, and why confidence, not technology, is the real key to making retrofit work for everyone.
What I learned from helping households through the energy transition
Over the past two years, I’ve had an exciting front-row seat to one of the biggest challenges in the UK’s journey to Net Zero – helping people make meaningful changes to their homes.
Working across Oxfordshire, we’ve seen it all: enthusiasm, hesitation, confusion, and breakthrough moments of real engagement. What’s become clear to me is that scaling delivery of retrofit isn’t just a technical or financial challenge. It’s a human one.
People care deeply about climate change. But when it comes to their own homes, many are unsure who to trust, what to believe, or whether the changes will truly make a difference.
The missing ingredient is confidence
Too often, retrofit is treated as a product to be sold rather than a process to be supported. The result is interest without action.
When we partnered with Metis by SMS to pilot an end-to-end model for household retrofit, we started from a very different place. What would it take for people to feel confident enough to act? That question shaped everything. The model created a single, guided route from awareness to installation that was transparent, supportive, and free of sales pressure.
Our role as a council was to give people a reason to believe. We needed to show that this offer was genuine, backed by us, and designed in their interests. That local reassurance made all the difference.
Our award-winning, free Energy Saver App helped residents understand their own energy data with personalised analysis and insights. Honest, supplier-agnostic simulations showed how solar, battery storage, or heat pumps would perform for each home. Fixed-fee subscriptions removed the barrier of upfront costs. Behind the scenes, a trusted national network of installers ensured quality and accountability.
Once confidence replaced uncertainty, action followed naturally.
Our not-so-secret recipe
Looking back, there are five ingredients that made this work, and they are all things any local authority can use:
- Generate interest: meet people where they are, through local communication channels and community networks.
- Provide end-to-end support: guide residents through every step of the process, from engagement to optimisation.
- Make it affordable: use simple financial models that open retrofit to everyone, not just early adopters.
- Make it easy to understand: communicate clearly, using personalised data that residents can trust.
- Build trust: combine transparent advice, council endorsement, and supplier-agnostic delivery so residents know the offer is credible.
Each ingredient reinforces the others. Together, they turn what could be a complex, intimidating journey into something residents genuinely want to be part of.
Proof that people will act when they trust the process
The results speak for themselves.
More than 9,000 residents downloaded the Energy Saver App, with around 73% engaging every week. Two-thirds of those offered solar and battery subscriptions chose to proceed, compared with an industry average of about 10%. Average annual household savings reached £375, along with measurable reductions in energy use and carbon emissions.
Beyond installations, digital engagement has opened a new frontier for local energy planning. The Energy Saver App now connects directly with thousands of residents, offering a live channel for energy education, funding updates, and behavioural insights that can inform future local policy and delivery of measurable climate action.
That kind of engagement doesn’t happen because of marketing campaigns. It happens when you remove uncertainty, simplify the experience, and prove that it works.
From local learning to national action
What began as a county-wide initiative is now shaping how area-wide retrofit could be delivered elsewhere. It is reducing dependency on uncertain grant cycles and helping other regions scale confidently toward their carbon goals.
For local authorities everywhere, the lesson is clear. The model Metis and Oxfordshire County Council have developed doesn’t just cut carbon. It cuts costs, reduces pressure on grant funding, and brings fairness to the energy transition. It offers a practical route for councils to meet Net Zero targets while improving residents’ wellbeing and supporting local economies.
If we’ve learned anything, it’s that retrofit doesn’t need to be reinvented. It just needs to be trusted. Retrofit isn’t a leap of faith. It’s a guided step forward. And when people can take that step with confidence, the energy transition becomes not just possible, but inevitable.
This represents an extremely exciting future. My role is to lead a team that supports the scaling of retrofit delivery in a fair and just way, contributing significantly to the drive to net zero so urgently needed in the age of the climate emergency. Innovation is great, and we’ve done plenty of that over the years in Oxfordshire. What is needed now is delivery. The mix of ingredients brought together in our work with Metis by SMS is the spark to ignite an explosion of activity.
