THIS time last year, pensioner Phil Easom was shivering in his Aspley home.

"We were wearing overcoats and it came to the point I was putting polythene bags on my feet over my shoes. That's how cold it was," said the 69-year-old from Rosslyn Drive.

But then two Nottingham schemes, Warm Zone and Warm Front, allowed him to have cheap loft insulation and a new central heating system installed.

He said: "I'm really pleased I got it when I did it has made a hell of a difference for us. It was like winning the lottery."

Now the schemes Mr Easom used have been slashed and another project giving city residents cheap home insulation will see its prices double later this year because of a change in Government policy.

The Nottingham Warm Zone allows people to have cavity wall or loft insulation fitted, each for just £49.

But the Nottingham Energy Partnership, which administers the scheme on behalf of the city council, has warned prices will rise to £99 from October.

People over the age of 70 and those on benefits will still be able to get it for free.

But it is likely that a discretionary decision in Nottingham to also offer it for free for people aged 65 to 69 will have to be scrapped.

Funding comes through the Government's Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme, which obliges utility companies to help private homeowners make their properties more energy efficient.

In Nottingham, Scottish and Southern Energy has provided £4.5m for the scheme since it started in 2008 – helping more than 1,000 people a year insulate their homes.

However, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target comes to an end in December 2012 and will be replaced by the Energy Company Obligation, which is expected to prioritise people in social housing.

Another source of funding which has helped keep the prices so low used to come from the Regional Housing Grant, which was passed to the city council by the East Midlands Regional Assembly (EMRA).

However, EMRA has since been scrapped and with no regional body to take its place, this funding has dried up.

Miranda Cumberbatch, affordable warmth programme manager for the Nottingham Energy Partnership, said it meant the low prices of £49 – the lowest anywhere in the country – could only be held until this October.

It also comes as funding through another scheme, Warm Front, which uses Government cash to pay for heating or insulation measures, is due to be slashed.

The current budget for this financial year of £345m nationally has already been spent and new applications are no longer being accepted.

Next year the funding will be cut by almost 70 per cent to £110m and will fall further to £100m the year after.

Miss Cumberbatch said the changes would leave a gap in provision for hard-up people .

Phil Angus, managing director of the Nottingham Energy Partnership, said: "Really we have got to get the message to people in the city that, with Nottingham Warm Zone, you have got the best deal in the country and you had better take advantage of it now because otherwise it will be gone."

Visit www.nottenergy.com.