Funded by West End Morecambe Big Local
When developing our current Action Plan, WEM talked with various partner organisations to be clear about the issues that challenge the West End. We had previously begun some very successful work with Eggcup on food poverty, but it became clear in these talks that with the costs of gas in particular rising, and with a cost of living crisis hitting low income households hard, now was the time to engage with other related issues such as fuel poverty and home finances. The population in the WEM area is in the region of about 5,000 people, and demographic data suggests that 20% of households here are living in fuel poverty. So, in October 2022, we added a Fuel Poverty Project to our plan, with an expected spend of £30,000. The project hits 4 of our 5 Priorities: Community, Health, Economy and Education.
The Project
The Home Energy Action Together project (HEAT for short) is being funded by WEM Big Local for 12 months from Jan 1st 2023 to Dec 31st 2023 to deliver free Home Energy advice, support and training across the West End. We met and talked to Morecambe-based Green Rose CIC to deliver the project and Green Rose was given a set of targets. HEAT are now half way through their project, and have already reached around 50% of their target completion. It seemed a good time to catch up with how they are doing, so we spoke to Lucy Reynolds, the WEM-funded HEAT Project Worker to hear how things are going.
“We are working to ensure that as many residents as possible have current information about gas and electricity prices, understand their bills, can use their appliances to maximum efficiency and are able to share this information with friends, family and colleagues…
Lucy Reynolds, HEAT Project Worker
… We offer free group training sessions alongside one-to-one advice. We also offer free home energy visit referrals via Local Energy Advice Partnership (LEAP), which include access to free white good replacements for old or inefficient appliances. LEAP visits can also result in installation of easy measures such as draft excluders, led lightbulbs and letterbox covers.“
Outputs so far
In the 6 months between January and June 2023 HEAT have delivered:
- 26 drop-in sessions (target 40 by Dec 2023), resulting in energy advice for 181 people with 88 LEAP home energy visit referrals (valued at £300 per session), making a total of £26,400 of additional support leveraged.
- Trained 63 people (target 200), to be home energy champions at 3-hour in-depth training sessions.
- Recruited 8 volunteers (target 15), who can further share advice and refer for LEAP home energy visits. A volunteer pack has been developed.
- Completed 8 home energy briefing sessions for agencies (target 10).
- Provided almost £1000 worth of easy measures (inc. radiator foils, draft excluders, letterbox covers, energy-saving LED light bulbs and standby remotes) to many residents.
- Reached 71 additional people at events across the West End.
- Identified 2 West End properties for further grant support from the Council.
- HEAT estimates over the lifetime of their bills, each person they work with, will likely save up to £1000 on their bills, i.e. £88,000 saved so far.
- In addition, HEAT are preparing information manuals to be printed and distributed in the West End (target 500 by Dec 2023).
Case Study: Linda (May 2023)
“The Green Rose service helped me make my home more energy efficient and hopefully cheaper in the future. I learnt loads of really interesting things about what’s actually happening to the price of gas and electricity. I’d recommend both the visit and the training to anyone who wants to save money on home energy.“
Linda
Linda came from volunteering at another West End organisation to our Energy Champions training. The training provided her with a lot of useful information about home energy consumption, energy suppliers, renewable technologies and grants available. Linda also said it was a catalyst for a lot of conversation between volunteers and a chance for them to spend some time together. She learnt a lot from the training and was interested in a free LEAP home energy visit so signed up along with a few of her colleagues.
She was in contact a couple of weeks later to let us know how well the visit had gone. Her main reason for the visit was the high cost of her energy bills. The Green Rose Home Energy Advisor had helped explain to her that some of her appliances were costing a lot of money and that she was also clearing some debt on her bill and that partly accounted for the high cost. Linda was also relieved to understand why the actual cost of bills has increased for everyone, as explained on the training and at the visit. She was pleased to have some deeper understanding of the whole situation and felt better able to predict future costs, thus allowing her to have more control over her future finances. The adviser also installed some easy energy-saving measures throughout her home, including draft excluders and LED light bulbs. Linda’s washing machine was old and energy inefficient, so a new replacement machine had been delivered and her old machine taken away.
Further Feedback from HEAT users:
All quotes from HEAT users“I feel like I understand how to use my boiler and radiators to get the most out of what I have.”
“The under-door draft excluders and letterbox draft excluder made a massive difference to how warm I stay in the evening.“
“My new fridge freezer works loads better than my old one. I didn’t realise how rubbish my old one was until I got a new one from the LEAP service.”
“The really detailed training gave me lots of great information about what has happened to the price of gas and electricity and what is expected to happen to these prices in the future.“
“Sometimes I switch off at meetings but I really enjoyed this training. It kept me switched on throughout. I’ve shared the info and done a mini presentation for my nan.“
Contact HEAT
If you would like to know more about how HEAT can help you save money on your energy bills, you can contact Lucy on greenroseheat@gmail.com.
