We are pleased to announce that six organisations across the South West have been awarded funding to develop new ways to deliver in-person home energy advice to consumers in the region, following funding bids to the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator competition.
The awards are part of a national scheme funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero which will see 36 bespoke advice projects delivered across England by organisations working with the five local Net Zero Hubs
The new advice services will have a particular focus on consumers living in hard-to-treat homes, such as listed buildings, as well as those who are hard-to-reach, such as the elderly and people who do not have internet access.
The six pilot projects in the South West explore the effectiveness of different methods of in-person advice on how to make homes more energy efficient by applying measures such as insulation and installing heat pumps. Advice on grants and subsidies to carry out the work will also be provided where available.
The South West Net Zero Hub will work in partnership with the successful organisations and the Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in the delivery of projects across the region.
Janine Michael, Deputy Chief Executive, Centre for Sustainable Energy, said:
“LEAD funding in the West of England will enable us to create a practical, collaborative and community-led approach to providing retrofit advice that dovetails with CSE’s existing retrofit schemes. Working with local community partners it will enable us to run hugely inspiring face-to-face Green Open Homes events, creating networks and opportunities for people to visit and hear first-hand from others about their retrofit journeys. This type of programme is hugely important in terms of behaviour change, building household confidence in the retrofit journey and social norming”.
“In Wiltshire, LEAD funding will enable us to offer our end-to-end Futureproof retrofit advice service to far more households including offering new thermal performance testing, discounted surveys for wealthier household and free support for more vulnerable and hard-to-reach households struggling to understand how to retrofit their properties. Both LEAD programmes will deliver new learning and are key to understanding how we can collectively scale up retrofit locally and across the UK”.
Jon Rattenbury, Programme Manager, South West Net Zero Hub, said:
“We are pleased to be able to award this funding on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to six south west based groups that have shown a real appetite to support their communities to take action to save carbon and improve the energy efficiency of their homes. We look forward to working with these groups to share the learning from the pilot projects on providing tailored advice and developing the provision of advice to support as many people as possible.”
Amanda Solloway, Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability, said:
“We want everyone to be able to get expert advice on how to make their homes more energy efficient, no matter where they live, so they can save money. These innovative projects will bring that expertise right to people’s doorsteps, quite literally in some cases, ensuring people are given the best advice on how to save money on their bills and heat their homes for less without needing to search for it.”
The organisations who have been awarded funding in the South West are:
- Bath & West Community Energy
- Centre for Sustainable Energy
- Centre for Sustainable Energy and Swindon and Wiltshire Borough Councils
- Testlands Wellbeing Hub
- Plymouth Energy Community
- Severn Wye Energy Agency
Find out more about the projects
Find out more about the national programme
This post was edited on 27 February 2024.
