Funded Energy Redress Projects

The project aims to tackle fuel poverty and health inequalities in Northumberland’s most deprived communities by offering targeted, high-quality energy advice and support. Building on a previously funded project, they will continue providing vulnerable households with life-changing advice and guidance on managing energy bills, addressing fuel debt, accessing available grants, and improving home energy efficiency.

Additionally, they will offer impartial advice on retrofit options, helping families adopt sustainable, low-carbon technologies to reduce their energy costs and improve their homes. The project will work closely with the local authority, community organisations, healthcare settings, schools and GPs, as well as local housing authorities to reach those most in need. This holistic approach will ensure that low-income families and elderly residents receive comprehensive support, from practical energy advice to information on available funding for retrofitting. 

The project will provide energy focused advice, information sessions and support to vulnerable residents in County Durham. 

They will aim to reach people who may not routinely contact Citizens Advice for help, by attending the 'Warm Hubs' and foodbanks to support those who cannot stay warm at home. They will provide advice on energy saving, understanding heating controls, and cost saving measures. Signposting households to their in-house advisers, to ensure a holistic approach is taken to advice.

The project will deliver home visits, casework, and advice on reducing consumption and maximising the benefit of home heating devices. They will support with energy disputes, grant applications, benefit entitlement, and referrals for debt advice.

They will also work with key partners and stakeholders to ensure they have the tools to signpost and inform the public of the support available.

The project will support vulnerable communities in Forth Valley and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park by delivering practical, energy-saving solutions that directly address fuel poverty. Through targeted awareness and engagement activities, energy advice sessions, and the development of energy-saving plans, the project will provide immediate relief to those at risk.

Local Energy Officers and Volunteer Energy Activators will work directly with individuals, ensuring support is tailored and accessible. A Community Energy Skills Academy will empower residents with skills in energy efficiency and will offer training and tools to community groups, addressing the needs of energy consumers in vulnerable situations and providing practical, long-term energy solutions.

The project will also demonstrate sustainable energy practices through community energy partnerships, ensuring that where communities share similar issues, they can be supported to work collaboratively on energy solutions. 

This is a pioneering project that employs an innovative, market-segmented research approach to accelerate self-funded domestic retrofitting in Plymouth. It targets a key market segment, known as Ready Prospectors; a highly motivated group with values aligned to retrofitting but who are significantly underserved by existing services.

This group is essential to upscaling retrofit as they are likely to be encountering important trigger points for retrofitting such as buying new homes, having children or inheriting money. To mobilise this group, the project will work with specialist behaviour change PR consultants, and evaluation specialists. Together, they'll utilise a Theory of Change model to co-design and develop retrofit service toolkits that address the group's unique psychological, financial, and practical barriers to retrofit, resulting in home energy improvements. 

The project is designed across three phases, with learning and insights feeding into service design at each stage, culminating in a final test of retrofit toolkits and online resources. By the end of the project, they will have created a vital online resource – the Plymouth Retrofit Hub, for the self-funded retrofit market. This will include case studies, links to trusted installers and contractors, and easy access to their retrofit advisor services. The project has wide-reaching implications for the sector; learning  will be widely disseminated through a webinar offer, evaluation reports and videos. 

This project will provide free Home Energy Checks and energy advice to older residents in Powys. A mobile energy roadshow van will reach rural pensioners impacted by location-based vulnerability. Energy roadshows will be delivered in over 170 rural communities across Powys, providing energy advice, distributing energy-saving equipment, engaging with pensioners in underserved areas. 

Home-based installations of simple energy-saving measures are urgently needed for vulnerable Powys pensioners unable to increase the energy efficiency of their home themselves, and who cannot access assistance due to lack of services. Home Energy Officers will conduct Home Energy Checks in the homes of pensioners in greatest need, installing simple energy-saving equipment and providing personalised energy advice.

The project aims to improve wellbeing and confidence for vulnerable energy consumers by providing advice and referrals to mitigate the impact of energy costs. The project will support people to manage their bills, fix energy arrears, access fuel vouchers, and advise on fuel options, available tariffs and grants where possible.

This project will build on the successes of a previously funded project, to expand and cover both the city and county area, working with over 800 households.     

After providing direct support to households, they will signpost them to ongoing energy budgeting support advice to make a tangible long term difference to how people manage their finances into the future. 

This is a partnership project between Groundwork’s Green Doctors; Sunderland City Council, Health Housing and Communities and Citizens Advice Sunderland. Approximately 15% of households in Sunderland are classified as living in fuel poverty, higher than the national average of around 13% (gov.uk).  The project aims to address fuel poverty through in-depth and light-touch energy efficiency advice, focusing on damp and mould, often exacerbated by incorrect energy use. 

The project aims to support 3,300 households across Sunderland, providing tailored holistic energy efficiency advice in various settings to meet individual needs. To ensure the project’s sustainability and lasting impact, they will deliver training to frontline staff, enabling them to identify and address issues related to energy efficiency, damp, and mould effectively. 

The project will reduce fuel poverty, support behaviour change, and improve community resilience, helping residents live in safer, more comfortable homes. As a result of the project, residents will save money; experience improved wellbeing and reduce carbon emissions.    

Despite huge interest, ‘Able to pay’ householders in the UK are failing to benefit from effective retrofit services, denying them the benefits of retrofit including carbon reductions, comfort and cost savings. An increasing number of community-led organisations have an ambition to meet these consumers’ needs by delivering fee earning retrofit services and adopting associated business models. 

Recent research carried out by Centre for Sustainable Energy for Access Foundation demonstrates the scale of interest from the community-retrofit sector and sets out the range of challenges they face including lack of capacity, trained staff, and access to appropriate technical support and tools. 

Using a Community of Practice approach, the project will work with a collection of growing community retrofit services around the UK, all at different levels of maturity and development, but all on the ground and delivering retrofit services now, to assist their growth. 

They will help scale these aspiring Community Retrofit services, assisting the transfer of knowledge and expertise and accelerating the growth and maturity of their work whilst growing the sector more broadly and benefitting householders by increasing access to retrofit services. 

The project is dedicated to transforming UK households' lives through energy focused mentoring. The need for more in-depth energy support is desperately needed as households continue to struggle to navigate the complex energy landscape and manage the impact of high energy costs.

Building on their successful community delivery in South Tyneside, they will refine the service to target vulnerable families with young children in and at risk of fuel poverty. Whilst also expanding the service into Sunderland, helping fuel-poor families manage energy crises efficiently.

Mentors will build trusted relationships in key areas of deprivation through targeted community engagement. Embedding the team directly into the community will enable them to engage with hard-to-reach households that may not otherwise seek support as well as reach those who can benefit from immediate practical advice and assistance.

In-depth mentoring will be tailored to each households’ unique circumstances. Identifying individual needs and developing an action plan to achieve sustainable positive outcomes through a combination of crisis management, listening, advocating, coaching and mentoring.  Empowering households to not only improve their immediate situation but to manage their energy use effectively and make informed energy decisions to achieve a warm and comfortable home.