Click on the link above to watch a short message from our CEO, Peter Owen, offering our perspective on the continuing challenges of the climate crisis and chronically high levels fuel poverty.

The theme is “Advice alone is not enough”

Since Energy Projects Plus started over 25 years ago we have always recognised the importance of being able to offer those we advise some direct routes to action, be they

• changing how things are done in the home

• fitting small measures,

• making more effective use of what is currently in place,

• or whole house retrofit.

However, as a country we seem ever distant from meeting climate targets or eradicating fuel poverty.

In the absence of more sustainable solutions, a huge amount of money has rightly been spent by Government in cost of living payments that help struggling families to try to stay warm through very difficult circumstances.

However, great as the need is, this cannot be a permanent solution.

For example, – Private rented homes are generally the least energy efficient yet they often house those least able to meet the high energy costs required to keep adequately warm.

The choice those residents face is simple – switch off or invite fuel debt.

These homes are in effect not fit for purpose.

The financial burden and the immediate and chronic health impacts of unavoidably living in cold homes are plain to see through the surge in demand for financial support to meet daily needs and the increased identification of patients requiring support from health services as a result of their home conditions.

What is urgently needed is a large scale, locally driven future-proofing programme that significantly reduces the energy demand of homes, particularly those occupied by low income families, through a fabric first approach that addresses insulation levels, heat loss through air leakage, and has embedded in-depth education of residents in best practice use of the home.

Current schemes do not achieve this standard.

Our charity, and similar ones across the UK, provide advice and support to thousands of people who desperately need the retrofit works that would future proof their homes, and make them fit for purpose.

We refer into national schemes for action but are encountering a fragmented system that does not appear to be primarily focussed on the needs of the resident.

We are finding examples where both resident and home are a match for schemes and measures but there are no offers from scheme managers. Worse still an initial rejection for support can be replaced by a valid offer after seeking an alternative second (or third) contractor.

It seems a fundamentally flawed system where the ability to receive measures is driven by the commercial interest of an installer and not by the needs of the vulnerable resident.

We consider that locally driven, locally focussed programmes, whether part of a national infrastructure programme or independent, would provide large benefits – economically through developing a local fully skilled installer base that could meet the demand generated by seriously tackling the issues, but also have positive impacts on the financial, physical, and mental wellbeing of residents, with a linked reduction in demand on local health and support services currently driven by poorly performing homes.

In 2025 we will be intensifying our focus on achieving actual improvements to homes and achieving the associated benefits across the health and support sector, inching forward in meeting climate targets and the eradication fuel poverty, built on the firm foundation of local high quality and expert independent advice.

We are declaring 2025 as the year of data sharing.

Building on award-winning fuel poverty pilots delivered throughout 2024 with health sector partners including NHS Cheshire & Merseyside, Health Innovation Northwest Coast, and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital – we will be delivering a “Gamechanger” initiative.”

Working in partnership with local Primary Care Networks and regional Public Health teams we will be exploring how health sector data can be used (with full recognition of confidentiality requirements) to identify and align patients most at risk from poor home conditions with practical measures that future-proof their health.

We will also continue to explore with partners how we can instigate the removal of barriers within the journey from advice to action.

We see 2025 as an opportunity to develop ambitious programmes, such as a unified health & housing project covering all of Cheshire & Merseyside, aimed at making a significant difference to carbon emissions, fuel poverty and the health and well-being of residents across Merseyside and Cheshire.

We would be pleased to discuss our plans with any like-minded organisations and invite you to contact us to find out more: info@epplus.org