Energy Redress Funding Phase two - Round 1 Outcome

The following 36 projects have been successful in securing funding in the latest round of the Energy Redress Scheme, to deliver projects across Great Britain, which will support vulnerable energy consumers amongst the rising energy prices, as well as develop innovative decarbonisation projects.

Over £12 million in funding was awarded in this round. The grant recipients include the following:

 

Act on Energy

£130,0654

England

Main fund

Warmer Homes West Midlands Phase 2 will build on two years of strong delivery that has already supported over 10,000 vulnerable householders.  The energy crisis means that more help is urgently needed, this will offer support to a further 13,550 struggling householders across the seven urban local authorities of the West Midlands Combined Authority.  Support will include a team of fully qualified energy advisors and community outreach workers, over the telephone, through case work, home visits and events and additionally, empower volunteers as local energy champions.  This builds on successful work in local communities particularly with those who are digitally excluded, from BAME communities or foodbank users. 

 

Age UK Scarborough & District

£249,994

England

Main fund

The Energy YourWays project will deliver intensive energy advice to vulnerable older people living in Scarborough and Ryedale in, or at risk of, fuel poverty. Energy Advice workers will be deployed to target and reach those in the greatest need, working closely with local authorities, the voluntary sector, the health sector, housing providers and statutory services. Eighty workers and volunteers from will be trained to increase awareness of the impact of fuel poverty on older people. The project will also raise awareness amongst partner organisations and provide a community “Warm Room” – utilising community facilities as a place for people to come during the daytime to reduce their energy costs at home and remain warm.

 

Bassetlaw Citizens Advice Bureau

£358,250

England

Main fund

The Energy Advice on Prescription project will provide expert energy advice and support to assist vulnerable consumers in Bassetlaw to make better decisions and improve their current situation/crisis. Delivery will include an in-depth ‘Energy Advice on Prescription’ for individuals via face-to-face appointments, home visits and digital channels, liaising and negotiating with energy suppliers, coordinated social media campaigns to raise awareness and open pathways towards our energy team, community presentations and ‘pop-up’ events to consumers/front-line workers, increased partnership working with local voluntary/public sector organisations to educate on energy issues, targeting clients affected by fuel poverty.

 

Birmingham Citizens Advice Bureau Service Limited

£87,131.75

England

Main fund

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.

 

Centre for Sustainable Energy

£458,554.95

England

Main fund

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.

 

Churches Housing Action Team

£248,717

England

Main fund

The Mid Devon Energy Partnership will tackle fuel poverty, underheated/energy inefficient homes, and related health issues in Mid Devon. Led by Churches Housing action team (CHAT), the project will partner with Exeter Community Energy (ECOE) to utilise their experience in delivering energy advice services to vulnerable households. The two organisations have existing relationships, presence and activities within communities across the district, by working together they will help more households to make energy efficiency and fuel savings advice/support. The project will provide 1-2-1-person centred advice and support, plus drop-in clinics, pop up events and community outreach in towns and villages across the district.

 

Citizen Outreach Coalition

£122,306

England

Main fund

The Energy Savings Awareness Campaign will identify and deliver energy saving advice to households experiencing fuel poverty because of the recent energy price hikes. Beneficiaries will include refugees that have been given their status and a tenancy. These group of people are more vulnerable and at risk and in need due to language barrier. All home/telephone advice will be delivered by a trained adviser who will work full time to deliver energy savings advice. The project will also produce several energy savings multilingual advice videos that will be heavily promoted on social media in target communities.

 

Citizens Advice Cheshire West

£177,445.26

England

Main fund

The Energy for Life project aims to support the most vulnerable residents of Cheshire to reduce their energy bills and make the most of their energy supply. It aims to create awareness of, and support application to, funds and schemes that can help people with their energy costs. After understanding each individual situation advisors will provide energy advice to the most vulnerable residents of Cheshire. This advice will be based on providing support to residents to make changes that will help for years to come, introducing energy saving measures, behavioural changes to cut energy costs and applications to grants. They will help people in the way that suits them best: individual face to face advice, online advice or by phone. It will also run group workshops in local community venues and attend events. 

 

Citizens Advice Mid Lincolnshire

£48,650.30

England

Small fund

The Energy Saver Project aims to reduce participants' household bills, whilst maximising their income.  This will be achieved by providing consumers with support ranging from light touch information to full, tailored and ongoing casework. Clients will be assisted via multi channels including video platform, telephone, email and face to face, thereby providing a seamless and flexible service that is accessible to all. The target group are consumers who are considered to be vulnerable. This includes those on a low income and/or are vulnerable such as those spending >10% of net monthly income on utilities, those on low incomes those in receipt of DLA/PIP, JSA, ESA or UC, those with a disability/long term sickness, those of pensionable age, those with dependent children.

 

Citizens Advice Mid-North Yorkshire

£238,520.23

England

Main fund

The Warm & Well in North Yorkshire project will increase capacity and do as much preventative work as possible while reaching out to those who have complex needs. This includes; budgeting/debt advice for those struggling to pay fuel bills, energy advice on measures and grants, mental health support so that debt advice and preventative solutions work.

 

Citizens Advice Torfaen

£49,192

Wales

Small fund

Warmer Torfaen will support vulnerable clients with energy advisors to improve energy efficiency in their homes and source practical solutions to help client’s keep their homes warm. They will work closely with Building Resilient Communities within the local area. The Building Resilient Communities team provides emergency assistance, such as food vouchers and cash grants before signposting clients for further support. In addition to this, they will also provide education sessions to our partner organisations and community groups to raise awareness of energy efficiency and highlight the issues our vulnerable clients may have when dealing with their energy providers. These education sessions will result in further referrals being made to our adviser.

 

Community Energy Plus

£498,153.02

England

Main fund

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.

 

Dumfries High Street Ltd (T/A Midsteeple Quarter)

£253,100.80

Scotland

Innovation fund

The Midsteeple Quarter Hybrid Heating Network aims to install an innovative aquifer-fed water source heating system in Phase I of the Midsteeple Quarter development, based on a shallow open-loop borehole system, and to test and develop this for wider implementation in neighbouring Midsteeple Quarter buildings and other town centre properties. The organisation has already assessed the potential for using ground source heating and establishing a wider district heating network and plan to use Phase I as proof of this concept by drilling two boreholes, connecting up the building and installing an aquifer-fed (or innovative hybrid) heat pump system to provide this building and neighbouring properties with low cost, locally-generated, low carbon heating. This work will confirm the feasibility of the system, commission the well and trial the installation in a mixed-use commercial and residential building. The exploratory well will be used as part of the final commissioned system if successful.

 

Energise Barnsley

£1,000,000

England

Innovation fund

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.

 

Energy Projects Plus

£446,897.95

England

Main fund

Working with 9 local authorities, 2 Fire and Rescue Services and local community organisations, our “Warm and Well” programme will raise awareness and provide new dedicated support to help struggling residents to better weather this Cost of Living Crisis". They will do this by helping them to reduce their energy demand (through measures and behaviour change), access any financial support available, understand and manage their fuel bills, and increase their confidence to participate in the energy market when price competition re-starts. They will support over 8,200 vulnerable households with telephone and face -to-face advice and casework support, train 132 front line and community staff, deliver 400 home visits, and create two regional forums to increase collaborative approaches to tackling the fuel crisis.

 

Groundwork London

£680,536.87

England

Main fund

The South London Energy Efficiency partnership (SLEEP) project will support the continued evolution of the successful SLEEP project, which aims to provide a large-scale and strategically coordinated effort to tackle the unprecedented levels of rising fuel poverty across South London, brought about by the cost of living crisis and ongoing increases to the energy price cap. Groundwork London, working in partnership with SELCE, Thinking Works and 11 Local Authorities, will deliver holistic and targeted interventions consisting of high-quality (face-to-face and online/phone-based) energy advice, directly supporting 5,900 of the most vulnerable South London households to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, save money on energy bills and better represent their interests in the energy market. Through the provision of ‘Money Matters Champion’ training to Energy Advisors, this project will trial the integration of more comprehensive/wider-reaching income and debt advice into home visits, recognising that income and debt are key drivers of fuel poverty. 

 

Groundwork UK

£1,164,903.49

England

Main fund

The Green Doctor: Energy crisis response programme will address thed need amongst vulnerable energy customers impacted by rising fuel prices to support an additional 4,300 of the most vulnerable households, to reduce and manage their costs through in-depth home-based energy advice and support. They will target areas of increasing fuel poverty, where existing energy advice services are struggling to meet demand, working with partners to identify and help vulnerable customers needing additional support, including low income households, residents in poorly insulated housing, those suffering ill-health, young families/single parents, and older people.

 

Groundwork West Midlands

£273,491.75

England

Main fund

The North Staffordshire Green Doctor programme will add capacity to existing energy/welfare advice provision in an area made worse by the cost of living and energy price rises. Green Doctors, qualified energy advisors, will target 1600 households with more complex energy needs such as long-term ill-health or disability, and who find it difficult to engage with online/telephone-based advice services due to poor mental health and caring responsibilities. To ensure broad reach, Green Doctors will deliver targeted social marketing, events in fuel poor neighbourhoods to raise awareness of the service. Alongside wider providers, they will develop strategies to improve co-ordination/targeting of resources, ensuring the most vulnerable can access the level of help they need.

 

Housing Association Charitable Trust

£150,952.31

England

Innovation fund

RetrofitCredits is a new service that will unlock investment in social housing retrofit by verifying the emission reductions and social value of housing retrofit projects and originating carbon credits backed by those emission reductions. It will centre the impact of these retrofit activities on residents and communities through the incorporation of social value metrics, so that the funding unlocked through carbon credits doesn’t just reduce carbon, but also improves lives.

The pilot aims to test this methodology on up to 3,500 housing association homes undergoing retrofit. In doing so, this project will facilitate significant capital flows from businesses making carbon neutral or net-zero commitments to housing providers, reducing the overall cost of funding retrofit activities.

 

Lancashire Women

£575,868.58

England

Main fund

The Lancashire Women’s Energy Advice service will offer home visits allowing advisors to better understand service users' situation and ensure that those who cannot afford, or do not have confidence to come into centres still receive help and a robust energy advice assessment. To support this, they will employ a female handy-person who can perform minor repairs and installations so that the safe reputation of our service for women remains. They will deliver informative events and sessions in the community to target groups (Low-income families, carers, 60+, 16-25s) that will help educate and prevent crisis situations from occurring.

 

Limehouse Project

£86,260

England

Main fund

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.

 

Marches Energy Agency

£388,989.41

England

Main fund

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.

 

National Energy Foundation

£1,147,568.24

England

Main fund

The Better Housing Better Health project will support vulnerable consumers at a crucial time, giving them access to high-quality energy advice, advocacy, and interventions across a large area of the East of England.  The project will be providing direct support to 10,000 households in vulnerable situations through a comprehensive engagement programme targeting deprived communities promoting NEF’s free-to-access ‘Better Housing Better Health’ service (BHBH) in several new areas. To enhance support available, NEF will conduct 500 in-home energy visits to those needing additional care and administer £180,000 of emergency funding to consumers in extreme energy hardship.  This will include funding to train 20 new ‘energy champions’ resulting in a further 10,000 vulnerable consumers being supported.  The project has been designed to provide an immediate response to the current ‘energy crisis’ and will benefit from all of NEF’s experience and expertise in supporting vulnerable energy consumers.

 

North Devon Homes

£189,490.66

England

Innovation fund

The Evaluating solar PV with electric heating project will build the case for social landlords installing solar PV after the feed-in tariff. It will assess how solar PV can make different forms of electric heating more affordable. North Devon Homes will install 16 solar PV systems in socially rented rural homes in North Devon with existing electric heating systems. These homes will have either storage heaters, storage heaters and batteries, ASHPs or ASHPs and batteries. A further 2 homes will have a Wondrwall system fitted with solar PV, battery storage and infrared heating panels. 11 of properties will also have energy saving smart hot water cylinders fitted with solar immersion controllers. The project will build on an earlier study with ASHPs and batteries. The potential for other income/savings from the smart export guarantee, advanced smart tariffs, peer to peer trading/Energy Local Club and flexibility payments will be considered.

 

Perth Citizens Advice Bureau

£188,213.32

Scotland

Main fund

The Perthshire Energy Saving Network will help clients to cut bills, reduce their energy use, provide small energy saving items for the home, challenge incorrect billing and access grants from a range of sources to help with arrears and property improvements. A core team of energy specialists will develop a Perthshire Energy Support Network of advice and support partners across Perth & Kinross to reach out to the elderly, to families and single parents and those living in rural communities who frequently bear an unequal burden of energy and cost of living rises. Perth & Kinross covers over 2,000 square miles and acting as a sole provider over that area is simply unmanageable, so they will work with our partners (Energy Saving Trust funded Heat Project and Warm Connections, local foodbanks and larders, befriending groups, carers’ support groups, NHS and numerous community groups who provide services for families and the elderly).

 

Purbeck Citizens Advice Bureau

£404,045

England

Main fund

The Energy for life project will help vulnerable consumers through the Citizens Advice Dorset Energy Unit, by providing in depth advice and casework to 1,540 vulnerable households from a team of Energy Caseworkers. This aims to build financial resilience among vulnerable consumers and increase the likelihood of households being able to meet their heating requirements to stay warm and safe and avoid cold-related health problems.  This will be delivered through home visits and telephone advice appointments, in addition to internal referrals within the Citizens Advice service for further support (Household Support Fund, welfare benefit applications & appeals, debt advice and solutions, water company assist schemes).

 

Re:work Ltd

£36,769.20

England

Small fund

The Keeping Warm this Winter project will use their knowledge, contacts and experience to put together a program of DIY training and home energy advice, that will be taken to where it is most needed within the city to alleviate fuel poverty. It will give people needed the skills and confidence to make changes to their homes and behaviour that would enable them to maximise the impact of the energy they used, and that more community workers needed to have a current and practical understanding of how to help families and individuals in crisis. This project will also provide a number of home visits, including a home thermal heat loss study, in order to provide draught proofing for those unable to undertake the energy saving measures themselves.

 

Severn Wye Energy Agency

£319,312.5

England

Main fund

The Energy Advocate Powys project is a partnership between Severn Wye, Powys County Council and community organisations like The HIVE, Pobl, The Bracken Trust and local foodbanks. It will provide targeted support to hard-to-reach people in rural areas who often fall through the net of conventional fuel poverty programmes. The project will embed trained Energy Advocate's within three areas in Powys covering Newtown, Llandrindod Wells and Brecon, areas have been selected based of higher level of need. The advocates will work alongside the council services, integrated health and community organisations to support people through the energy crisis, aiming to both alleviate and prevent fuel poverty. The partnership services will be able to refer directly to our Energy Advocates who will conduct home visits, provide energy efficiency advice, billing support and support with grant applications, and holding appointment-based and drop-in surgeries in partner hubs. This project will be essential for these communities to face the energy and cost of living crisis.

 

Spire View Housing Association

£212,358.85

Scotland

Main fund

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.

 

Stockton & District Advice & Information Service

£438,978

England

Main fund

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.

 

The Big Issue Foundation

£185,000

England

Main fund

The Fighting Fuel Poverty project will directly support 1,000 socially and economically excluded Big Issue vendors and at least 1,000 of their family members experiencing fuel poverty over 24 months. It will train 7 frontline staff to achieve a Level 3 City and Guilds Energy Awareness qualification - supported by 3 Specialist Energy Advisors that have already achieved the qualification - and impart expert energy advice to Big Issue vendors and their families facing high energy support needs which inhibit their ability to access energy support from anywhere else.

 

the Environment Centre (tEC)

£398,848.53

England

Main fund

The Hampshire Energy Advice Service will reach out, with targeted messaging, to 35,000 vulnerable households across Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton that are struggling to keep warm and well. The project aims to increase the provision of affordable warmth advice across the region to meet the significant increase in demand as a result of the energy crisis. Through proposed activities they will directly support 3,800 households over the phone online and with face-to face energy advice at events. The partnership will engage key council and third sector services across the region, engaging and training 500 frontline workers to raise awareness of fuel poverty and highlight the help available. In addition they provide a greatly enhanced digital offering, practical support through distributing energy saving packs and discretionary grants to those most in need. They will also foster increased collaboration between partners.

 

The Footprint Trust charity

£93,470

England

Main fund

Warm Island - Energy Saving Guidance will provide support for households in the second most fuel poor area in England, the Isle of Wight. They will provide a range of support to give the best, appropriate help including: energy events run in the local community, face to face meetings at outreach in Foodbanks and other help groups, an energy phoneline, online help and access to additional grant funding and further support. They will help empower over 3000 households to reduce their bills by teaching skills to manage and lower energy use in the home, supporting vulnerable consumers who have a long term physical or mental health condition, be on a very low income, from an elderly household, living in off-gas inefficient homes or otherwise disadvantaged from the energy market.

 

The National House Project

£191,364.20

England

Main fund

The Care leavers as Energy Champions project will with Local Authorities (LA) to establish Local House Projects (HPs) across the UK to prepare and support young people leaving care to ‘live connected and fulfilling lives’. This energy project aims to inform, educate and raise awareness of energy efficiencies by providing intensive support with lasting solutions so that this vulnerable group can avoid fuel poverty and sustain their tenancies. They will work with young people to develop resources that work for them, and with young people as researchers and energy champions the project is geared to developing a young person led approach. Young people will be supported to develop energy aware behaviours as they move to independent living and staff and young people will be trained as energy champions to support young people who already face considerable challenges as young tenants which has been further exacerbated by the energy fuel crisis and the cost of living crisis.

 

The Welcoming Association

£47,278.74

Scotland

Small fund

The Welcoming Home Energy Efficiency Project aims to tackle and prevent fuel poverty and associated risks by supporting New Scots (refugees, asylum seekers and migrants) in Edinburgh to learn about the local energy and billing system, implementing home energy efficiency measures and behaviours to reduce their energy consumption. Through home energy visits and one-to-one energy advice, project participants will be able to control their energy consumption, access financial support, improve their home energy efficiency, and apply for fuel debt assistance when required. This intervention will benefit all New Scots living in Edinburgh, as well as support local agencies and service providers to reach the most excluded and marginalised members of the community, such as newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers.