Funded Energy Redress Projects

The project will provide an Energy Awareness Hub (EAH) service that annually reaches over 1,200 vulnerable residents within the City and County of Swansea.

The Hub will be open 3 days a week for drops ins and referrals from people seeking support and advice. Ranging from issues with energy suppliers, fuel debt, and income maximisation, to energy efficiency and eligibility for energy schemes.

They will work closely with front line staff in third sector organisations to reach those most in need of support, including colleagues within Swansea Council.

Energy support will also be offered 'on-the-road' in locations around Swansea, including advice sessions at libraries, talks at community venues, and information sessions for members of third sector organisations and groups. 

Eligible residents will be able to access Warm Packs which include LED lighting, draft excluders, radiator reflectors and keys, and timer plugs. 

They will also visit vulnerable customers in their homes to complete Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), retrofit assessments or heat loss surveys and provide 1:1 support needed to undertake the recommendations that are identified. They aim to address the root cause of energy related concerns and reduce the number of residents who find themselves in vulnerable situations.

Building on the success of a previously funded project, they aim to reduce carbon emissions from “hard to heat” homes across Surrey, with a focus on the 300,000 homes that are currently EPC D or below or without an EPC. They will achieve carbon reduction by improving the energy efficiency of homes and encouraging their move towards cleaner energy. 

Using their existing network of trusted, community organisations, they will deliver in three key areas: 

• Providing residents with accessible advice and information on home retrofit, through a programme of local events and delivery of 1,600 home energy surveys.
• Directly providing tailored, low-cost energy efficiency measures for immediate installation, including draught-proofing, radiator foils, LED bulbs and loft insulation.
• Providing a referral gateway to other support services and funding opportunities and connecting residents with trusted assessors and suppliers. 

The most vulnerable residents will be referred to HEAT Plus, an additional service which provides up to 5 hours of support with the process of applying for grants, bespoke advice, or addressing specific barriers to installation. 

The project aims to deliver 9MW of wind energy generation on Mynydd y Gwrhyd in South Wales. The project is based in the former coal mining community of the Upper Amman and Swansea Valley, and all surplus from the turbines will go into their fuel poverty energy advice service, which is currently grant funding, to make the service sustainable for the future. 

As part of the project, they will undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) leading to a planning application, pay a deposit to secure the grid, and finalise Options and Leases with their landowners. 

They will also aim to keep the site open as an education resource.

Building on the delivery of a previously funded project, Rotherham Federation aim to provide energy saving advice to 2,000 vulnerable households, identified through local intelligence and community referrals.

Advice will be delivered through online support, zoom/phone calls, and community training and events. Participants will use their improved knowledge to change their energy habits, switch suppliers, stay warmer, access help with fuel bills, reduce consumption and improve their energy efficiency. 

Collaborating with local service partners will enable households to access holistic support to resolve related issues (e.g. debt, credit unions, fire safety). Alongside referrals for energy support home visits, where required.

Energy advisors will provide training to local voluntary and community sector organisations to improve their energy knowledge and skills, to effectively deliver volunteer-run energy awareness activities to vulnerable households. 

The project aims to support vulnerable households, to reduce bills, maximise income, tackle fuel poverty and financial hardship for the longer term. They will undertake a two-pronged approach; offering energy advice and information at events, alongside energy casework.

Advice and information will range from energy bills and tariffs, fuel options and switching methods, to smart meters and net zero. To ensure behavioural change and empower households to reduce their energy consumption.

Casework will also be provided for more complex energy issues including, income maximisation, financial assistance towards energy bills, fuel vouchers, and accessing energy efficiency grants and schemes.

They aim to provide in-person energy saving advice to 1,000 households in deprived neighbourhoods across East Birmingham, to support households with reduced fuel bills, improved health and warmer homes.

Advice will be delivered through drop-in sessions at local venues (Women’s Enterprise Centre at Norton Hall; and Jet Shop, Alum Rock Road), telephone advice, and home visits. They will take referrals through word of mouth and a new website with an online booking calendar. 

Many of these households lack fluency in written English, making it difficult for them to assert their rights as consumers of energy services. A large percentage of these families have household members with a variety of cold and damp related medical conditions, such as anxiety, depression, respiratory and circulatory conditions.  

The project aims to achieve measurable reductions in expenditure on fuel, and in greenhouse gas emissions, whilst also reducing the incidence of fuel poverty related stress and anxiety. 

This project will stimulate accessible retrofit, working across tenures to provide expert and timely advice and support to households and landlords with stretched budgets, supporting them along their journey from interest to install. 

They aim to advise over 500 owner occupiers, primarily those with budgets of between £10 - £10,000, providing technical surveys in home, over the phone advice and support at key touchpoints. They will also provide carbon reduction recommendations for social and private landlords’ housing stock, covering 2,100 homes. 

The project will take a customer-first approach, understanding that cost saving and comfort are key priorities for most. Advice will cover carbon saving measures where there is a viable pathway to install. DIY workshops will train householders in measures such as draught proofing, and carry out airtightness testing for air source heat pumps.

The project will focus on ‘getting retrofit done’, celebrating successes and using viable local solutions, using low-cost technologies, and signposting available funding streams. 

They will develop local property typologies to allow replicable results, and expand a directory of installers with proven results in the county. A local media campaign will drive interest in the project and challenge common misconceptions that are forming barriers to uptake. Community Advocates will be trained to provide support in their locality and work with their growing team of retrofit specialists, providing a legacy of planned installs to accelerate the decarbonisation of homes as we approach 2030.

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.