Funded Energy Redress Projects

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.