Energy Projects Plus CEO, Peter Owen reflects on 2021 in this end of year message to our valued funders, referrers, patrons and partners.
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2021 has been another challenging year with the Covid-19 pandemic fundamentally changing how we and our partners operate our services. It has also led to ever increasing demand for our services.
Our teams have worked tirelessly throughout the year to support as many people as possible and will be taking a well-earned break over the Christmas and New Year period.
Our work has focussed on two areas: the climate emergency and fuel poverty. There is a clear connection between the two in that improving energy efficiency directly reduces fuel use thus lowering carbon emissions and fuel bills.
Over the year we have provided advice and other support to over 6,000 households.
We helped over 1,100 people apply for their £140 Warm Home Discount payment – an important support for vulnerable people to afford winter fuel bills.
We have directly issued 1,400 emergency fuel vouchers to people facing the direct risk of their lights and heating going off.
We made nearly 400 home visits to vulnerable residents to assist with issues ranging from broken heating systems or appliances, not knowing how to use or adequately control their heating system, understanding fuel bills or switching supplier, installing easy measures such as LED lightbulbs or radiator panels, and also to deliver emergency heaters to homes where no heat is present.
With our partners we have also trained 200 people in Carbon Literacy so that they have a greater understanding of what their impact on the environment is, and also how they can personally start to make changes for the better.
2022 will become even more difficult for those people struggling to afford their fuel bills as the cost of fuel is expected to rise overnight in April by over £40 per month. For those of us fortunate to be able to accommodate such an increase we must recognise that this will be unaffordable for many many people who will have two simple choices- switch off or face debt.
The excitement of COP26 in November ran parallel to the huge concerns raised by the serious rise in gas prices that now fills many people with dread for the new year.
This is where there is a direct crossover between fuel poverty and the climate emergency. The solution to both is to reduce our energy needs and demands, and thus our costs, through effective energy efficiency programmes underpinned by a comprehensive and credible advice and support service.
However, in the drive for a just transition there is no point in simply adding the huge cost of decarbonising homes onto all fuel bills as it will be the fuel poor who bear a disproportionate cost and may ultimately not escape the daily pressure of keeping warm and well at an affordable price.
As our charity reflects on our impact during 2021 we express our thanks to all our funders for their invaluable support, financial and other, as well as our partners in delivery and those 400 plus active referrers who are all committed to the same goals as our charity.
Our charity’s focus for 2022 is to build on our previous 25 years of action and increase our work around the interconnected issues of the climate emergency and fuel poverty. We see that deeper support to households across both themes will help achieve the lasting changes we need, and we look forward to working with partners, old and new, to make this aspiration a reality.