Funded Energy Redress Projects

The ‘People Powered’ project aims to provide residents of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney, most vulnerable to fuel poverty, with: the immediate support they need to overcome acute difficulties with their energy bills and longer-term resilience to withstand on-going pressures to pay their energy bills. These boroughs all have pockets of significant deprivation. The project is designed to provide the community with greater access to the right type of support, in a sustainable and cost-efficient way. The community-based model will support people with acute issues, while giving them and their communities the tools to sustain longer-term resilience to ongoing pressures.

The project will offer holistic advice and support for energy customers who meet Ofgem’s vulnerability criteria by helping them to: manage their energy accounts; reduce energy consumption; maximise their income; access other services (e.g. debt/benefits advice, mental health support). The service will be delivered through information/awareness-raising events and one-to-one advice offered at CALS, at community venues across Leicester and through home visits. The project will be delivered in partnership with organisations across Leicester, serving communities that experience high levels of economic disadvantage to maximise reach and complement existing service provision.

Warmer Derby & Derbyshire 3 (WDD3) will be run by Marches Energy Agency (MEA), a charity with 25 years’ experience supporting local people to be warm and well at home. With WDD3, MEA will aim to provide free, independent advice and practical help to tackle fuel poverty and cold homes for a further 4000 people. They will expand from their free phone advice line with in-depth case work support, home visits with low-cost measures and crisis support, and signpost to insulation schemes. They will reach communities excluded through language and cultural barriers, with training and direct assistance. Referral networks and partnerships will be strengthened, such as with Adult Social Services, food and warm banks, mental health agencies, and women’s refuges.

This project will support approximately 4,050 disadvantaged and vulnerable households who struggle with fuel poverty. The project will help households to understand their energy use, save energy in their homes, communicate with their energy providers, and access grants and other support to better manage their bills. Ultimately, the project aims to reduce the number of people falling into fuel poverty, saving a projected total of £877,000 on energy costs (£1.57m small measures lifetime-savings). The project will work with diverse communities including ethnic minorities, refugees, those with health conditions, and older people. This is a partnership between Severn Wye, Integrated Healthcare, Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers (GARAS), and other community organisations.

The Energyworks single point of contact (SPOC) project will be a partnership between Citizens Advice Brighton & Hove (CABH) and Brighton & Hove Energy Services Coop (BHESCo) to help all city residents in fuel poverty. All energy advisers will be trained to City & Guilds Level 3 Energy Awareness. The SPOC will be embedded in the widely used Energyworks service in Brighton & Hove and will be accessed through a central telephone number, digital, advice drop-ins at Citizens Advice at Hove Town Hall, and via community outreach workshops. The Energyworks webpage will have dedicated and up-to-date information on all local and national energy schemes to help reduce fuel poverty. 3,439 clients will be advised over the course of the project and 382 home visits will be undertaken over 2 years.

The project will increase awareness of domestic energy issues and reduce the risk of fuel poverty amongst harder to reach and BME communities, likely to be disproportionately affected by the impacts of high energy prices, the risk of self-disconnection, or arrears from the Covid-19 period. The project is led by the Croydon BME Forum which has a long track record of community engagement, with specialist and advisory support from Croydon Council. An energy adviser will deliver training sessions across the borough and online, which will include energy efficiency, energy bill and tariff advice, energy debt support, and support applying for grant funding. The project will fund promotional campaigns for residents who do not speak English as a first language.

Middlesbrough Environment City Trust (MEC) delivers activities to assist vulnerable, fuel poor people across Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland. The boroughs have extreme levels of poverty, including areas in the top 25% deprived in England. With the ongoing energy crisis, these levels have increased. The project takes a proactive approach to tackling fuel poverty with a one-to-one advice programme across South Tees, the provision of a robust referral pathway to support vulnerable clients through: energy advice; access to energy efficiency measures; crisis support; income maximisation; and wellbeing support.  The project will continue to support those in fuel poverty and will expand upon its past work.