Over £3.9 million in funding awarded to 20 charities providing advice and support to vulnerable energy consumers

The Ofgem Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme (Energy Redress Scheme) today – Wednesday 19 January 2022 – announces it has awarded more than £3.9 million in grants to 20 charities across England, Scotland and Wales in its 13th round of funding.

With the ongoing energy crisis at the forefront of householders’ minds, grants were awarded for new initiatives that support vulnerable households with energy bills and projects that will help homes reduce their long-term household carbon emissions.

Managed and delivered by Energy Saving Trust, the Ofgem Energy Redress Scheme collects voluntary payments from companies that may have breached Ofgem administered rules. The priorities of the Scheme are to support energy consumers in vulnerable situations, develop innovative low carbon products or services and empower consumers to reduce their energy use and carbon emissions.

Cathryn Scott, Director of Enforcement and Emerging Issues at Ofgem, said “We know that this winter is already a difficult time for many, as high global gas prices continue to affect consumers. We are pleased that £3.9 million from our Energy Redress Scheme will be made available to these charities that will provide help to people in vulnerable situations. The Energy Redress Scheme, funded by Ofgem’s enforcement and compliance activity, makes a real difference to those who most need it.”

The latest group of successful charities will receive grants ranging from £42,000 to more than £700,000 to deliver projects lasting up to two years. The charities who have been awarded grants this round, include:

• Foresight Limited will receive a grant from the small project funding stream. Their project, ‘Making best use of my energy’, sets out to provide qualified, expert energy advice and support currently unavailable to people living with health conditions or impairments and older people residing in East Lindsey, North and North East Lincolnshire to significantly improve their quality of life.
• Age UK Nottingham and Nottinghamshire will receive a grant from the main fund for its  ‘Warm & Wise’ project. Aimed  specifically at supporting older energy consumers in vulnerable situations, the project will support around 7,000 households with in-depth, tailored energy advice and free energy-saving measures.
• Hjaltland Housing Association will receive a grant from the innovation funding stream for their ‘Fabric First Retrofit To Timber Kit’ project. This new project will pilot a retrofit solution for difficult-to-treat timber frame properties. Hjaltland aims to upgrade all their stock and provide energy efficient, low carbon and warm homes for tenants with findings shared nationally for learning.
• Nottingham Energy Partnership will receive a grant from the Carbon Emissions Reduction Fund for their ‘Conservation Retrofit Catalyst’ project, designed to tackle one of the most significant challenges of reducing carbon emissions from homes and overcoming the specific barriers to retrofitting in conversation areas. Taking place in Nottingham and designed as a replicable model, the pilot project will improve the uptake and quality of retrofit measures for homes constructed before 1919 – which account for  21% of the UK’s housing stock – through an archetype study, retrofit planning and specific retrofit training for tradespeople.

Di Trinder, Joint Chief Executive, Age UK Nottingham & Nottinghamshire said “We are delighted to receive a grant to provide an extremely valuable service at a time when energy is uppermost in people’s minds.  The project will ensure help gets to where it is needed most, and it will hugely improve the quality of life of those in need.”

More detail about the successfully funded projects can be found here.

Graham Ayling, Senior Project Manager for the Energy Redress Scheme said “The latest round of grant funding come at  a crucial time, with UK households facing exceptional rises in energy costs, alongside the ongoing climate emergency. National and regional charities have a key role on the frontline, particularly in supporting those most at risk from high energy prices and in ensuring that the transition to zero carbon energy happens quickly, sustainably and leaves no-one behind. These funds will support more charities to do just that.”

Charities that are registered with the Energy Redress Scheme and have passed the due diligence process can apply to the open rounds.