Funded Energy Redress Projects

The Birmingham Energy Affordability Project (BEAP) will provide energy advice and advocacy for clients in vulnerable situations, focussing especially on fuel poverty hotspots in the north and east of the city. A dedicated team of trained energy advisers will address the growing demand for energy advice and support from vulnerable residents in Birmingham due to increasing energy and living costs, and the ending of COVID-19 support. The project will address the root cause of fuel poverty and deliver long term solutions by developing robust referral pathways to further support vulnerable clients to access energy efficiency measures, income maximisation and wellbeing support from both in-house services and specialist agencies.

The Cornwall Energy Advice Service will expand provision to support more vulnerable consumers across Cornwall at risk of or experiencing fuel poverty, combined with proactive outreach to support the most vulnerable..Over the next 2 years, outreach work across Cornwall, targeting support to harder to reach households and combined with increased marketing activity, will see the service provide tailored support to over 3,500 households. Households will be able to reduce their energy consumption, and financial savings will be made to help manage energy bills and reduce the risk of debt. Vulnerable consumers and their households will benefit from improved health and wellbeing with warmer, more energy efficient homes.

The Lime House Project Energy Efficiency Adviser will give face-to-face energy assessments for particularly vulnerable and hard-to-reach clients Additional service will online and in-depth energy advice workshops, follow up meetings and support with individual casework an energy training workshops for other local agencies working with local citizens struggling with financial issues. They will educate vulnerable clients, many of whom are living in poverty and unfamiliar with what the energy markets can offer them. Word-of-mouth is a very strong form of communication amongst local BAME communities and clients supported and educated about energy issues will champion the project's work, passing on knowledge learned and advocating others to participate in the project.

The Royston Community Energy Project will employ 2FTE Energy Advisors, they are ensuring the Royston community has access to personalised energy advice and advocacy and that this is linked to wider services delivered from the Hub. They will provide a dedicated drop-in/appointment service for 800 people to access first-hand advice and crisis support in relation to energy advice and undertake home energy assessments for 175 properties, supporting households to understand energy usage; make savings to bills, reduce carbon emissions and undertake a series of small practical solutions to reduce energy consumption. They will also develop a series of environmental workshops on topics including: living well in an energy efficient way; understanding energy bills; awareness of the Priority Service Register. Delivered within the Hub and recordings posted on a YouTube channel-aiming to drive behaviour change across all Royston residents.

The Rural communities energy support network project will provide 4,350 vulnerable households across Somerset and Wiltshire with in-depth, tailored and end-to-end energy advice and support, alongside transforming the role of community-based organisations in both areas to build their capacity to deliver energy advice. They will work with local groups, charities and frontline workers, throughout Somerset and Wiltshire who support vulnerable people who need fuel poverty training and ongoing support to provide energy advice, rather than simply defaulting to a CSE referral, as well as existing referral organisations, they will work with local community infrastructure organisations engaging local VCSEs that they don’t have a referral relationship with who support our target groups and could provide significant additional local energy advice capacity.

The FiT for Solar Barnsley project is an innovative way to use existing domestic solar installations, coupled with the strength of community energy, to install more solar installations on tenanted homes, to help alleviate fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions in Barnsley. In 2013 Barnsley Council funded 310 domestic solar installations. These installations, via the Feed in Tariff, have repaid the initial capital. There is still 14 years left of FiT revenue for these installations. Since 2015 Energise Barnsley, a community energy benefit society, has partnered with Barnsley Council, to deliver further domestic and commercial solar installations, raising significant capital in community finance. The tenants receiving the solar installations will receive 100% free use of the solar generation, exactly the same as the tenants in 2013.The ‘recycling’ of FiT revenues, coupled with the strength of community energy to raise additional funding for new installations, is replicable nationally, where the local authority or landlord has paid for the initial installations and achieved its’ ‘pay back’ period.

Telford Energy Advice Phase 2 (TEA2) will continue to provide free, independent energy advice to vulnerable energy customers in the Telford & Wrekin Council (T&WC) area. The service will be run by Marches Energy Agency (MEA), with partnership support from Telford Crisis Support (TCS). There are over 11,500 fuel-poor households in the area, a figure which will rise significantly throughout the energy crisis. Funding will be an essential part of building a local, responsive service meeting the needs of vulnerable residents. Support will include tailored advice, in-depth casework support through home visits, detailed remote support, provision of low-cost energy efficiency measures, crisis support for those struggling in the short-term, drop-in advice at community hubs/events and finally, support to improve home energy efficiency including signposting to grant funding such as the T&WC Top-up Grant. TEA2 will continue to develop a strong network of referral partners across the third sector, working alongside organisations such as Telford Crisis Support and Age UK. TEA2 will train 400 frontline workers to increase understanding of fuel poverty among those supporting vulnerable people.

The Warm up North 2 project will support energy consumers in vulnerable situations by providing comprehensive and holistic energy advice targeted at people who are vulnerable because they are on a low income,  in or at risk of debt, or someone in the household has a health problem or disability that means they are more likely to suffer a substantial detriment as energy consumers. The project will deliver comprehensive energy advice together with  advice on related matters including welfare benefits and housing where appropriate  to ensure people are given holistic information and support that will bring long-lasting improvement to them as energy consumers and reduce their  vulnerability.

Groundwork will offer a ground-breaking, one-stop-shop energy service in Rochdale, Tameside and Bury as a precursor to GM wide delivery in future.

With no cap on individual appointments, an outreach presence in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, training local volunteers as energy champions, and using our expert knowledge of local community assets, this project builds resilience in communities and will make sustained change beyond the end of Ofgem funding.

Every conversation counts and being in people’s homes dealing with energy issues is a unique opportunity to provide other wrap-around services linked to health and wellbeing – including indoor air quality monitoring, digital inclusion, flood resilience in high risk areas, financial capability, water usage and linking people to local community assets.

Key objectives include:

1. Build on an existing network of frontline agencies to generate over 700 referrals
2. Install small energy measures in 520 vulnerable households.
3. Agree tailored action plans which document practical ways to reduce household energy usage and keep warm.
4. Provide support/advocacy to represent consumers’ needs in the energy market going the extra mile to resolve problems that we encounter.
5. Provide wrap-around services linked to health and wellbeing

Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme funding will pay for small energy measures in 520 households and creation of two key posts to carry out face-to-face home visits and outreach in the most disadvantaged areas, and to provide immediate triage support and advocacy to customers over the phone, tackling problems before a home visit is required.