Bromley by Bow Centre

About Bromley By Bow Centre:

Bromley by Bow Centre (BBBC) is a community charity based in London that offers over 40 services and activities to households in their area. They have strategic partnerships with a wide range of organisations and deliver programmes that transform people’s lives. The BBBC energy advice service offers free, impartial and confidential advice for people struggling to pay their energy bills and to keep warm at home. BBBC is a grantee of the Energy Redress Scheme.

East End Energy Fit Project

East End Energy Fit (EEEFit) provides advice and assistance to households in or at risk of, energy crisis, focusing especially on the most vulnerable residents of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney. It delivers holistic support through complex casework, responding to the intersecting challenges experienced by residents. The project has so far helped over 1900 households.

Who has been helped by the service?

A specific example of a household who has been helped by the project is a family of six, with four children under the age of sixteen, who approached BBBC for support with a large debt they had accrued on their British Gas electricity account. When the family came to BBBC for advice, British Gas had been in touch regarding £1000 of debt and had begun the process of fitting a second pre-payment meter to recover the debt. The family did not understand where the debt had come from and were extremely worried about managing their bills and covering the debt.

How were they helped?

• BBBC were able to delay the fitting of the second pre-payment meter in the family’s home and applied to the British Gas Energy Trust on their behalf.  An award was granted that cleared the outstanding fuel debt.
• They put the family in touch with a local debt adviser who assisted them with budgeting and helped them to arrange an affordable payment plan with British Gas going forwards.
• BBBC provided an Emergency Fuel Voucher to help towards their gas use.
• BBBC made internal referrals to advisers who were able to remove the cap on the family’s access to Universal Credit, to reduce other priority debts e.g. council tax bill and who advised on social water tariffs so reducing their annual water bill.

Overall, BBBC helped the family better manage their household bills and debts, reducing stress about their financial situation. This is just one example of how people in fuel poverty are helped by the East End Energy Fit project and a reflection of the immensely positive impact the service has had and will continue to provide to the community.