It continues to be a terrible state of affairs that an annual, national fuel poverty conference is needed, but we remain grateful to NEA for providing this opportunity for local, regional, and national organisations to gather together, hear any breaking news, digest the latest data around fuel poverty and excess winter deaths, and share best practice among ourselves.

The title of this Winter’s conference is disheartening: the Energy Crisis has been with us now for over two years, and while there seems to be a general consensus that energy costs will drop a little further in 2024, there’s no real light at the end of the tunnel for millions of households struggling to cope with massively inflated bills.

Our Business Relationship Manager, Dominic Griffiths, attended the conference to gather insights, and has compiled the following notes:

• NEA’s Chief Executive, Adam Scorer (pictured), delivered a keynote speech, including the worrying statistic that 41% of prepay meters “self-disconnected” during Autumn 2023. Adam says “crisis is when your coping mechanisms fail you.”
• From January 2024, there will be 6.5 million UK households living in fuel poverty.
• Ros Kane from Fuel Bank Foundation advises that, despite the massive rise in energy bills, approximately 90% of prepay customers still like prepay.
• Yes Energy Solutions find only 20% of clients experiencing fuel crisis (i.e. prepay customers at risk of self-disconnection) will continue to engage with additional support offered (e.g. tips on how to reduce ongoing energy bills, and help to apply for grants to make the property warmer and more energy efficient).
• Octopus Energy has recruited social workers to support their staff and customers, due to a rise in “crisis calls” (e.g. domestic violence and suicidal thoughts).
• Frazer Scott, Chief Executive Officer of Energy Action Scotland, advises the Scottish Ambulance Service has produced data showing an increase in ambulances responding to symptoms of hypothermia.
• John French, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Utility Regulator, advises there are no standing charges on energy meters in Northern Ireland, making us wonder why they’re considered unavoidable by energy suppliers in England.
• During the “retrofitting fuel poor homes: how can we go further and faster?” breakout session, there was general agreement that there needed to be a “fabric first” approach, with “long-term funding” in place. The current iteration of the Energy Company Obligation is due to end in 2026, but we have targets to achieve Net Zero by 2050. We need obligations that span decades, not 2 or 4 years.
• Danni Barnes from NEA described their priorities for “Winter and beyond,” including engaging marginalised communities, focusing on health inequalities, targeting the private rental sector, encouraging smart meter adoption, and retrofit projects

Highlights

There were lots of new faces at the conference. NEA has themselves grown considerably in 2023, recruiting 30 new Energy Advisors. There were also representatives from community organisations who are new to the area of providing energy advice. It was great to hear their enthusiasm for providing advice and support to households in fuel poverty, and/or fuel crisis.

Martin Lewis (pictured) made an appearance, via pre-recorded video link. His enthusiasm for ensuring everybody has all the facts at their disposal can be quite infectious, and until he appeared he’d even been a little conspicuous in his absence. He heaped plenty of praise on the frontline workers present, going into the homes of people in fuel poverty, to address the issues and support with solutions.

Lowlights

Unfortunately, the problem is getting worse, not better. Despite the millions of pounds spent on fuel vouchers, they’re merely a sticking plaster and the underlying cause of the fuel crisis needs to be assessed by a thorough intervention, that people experiencing fuel crisis are not necessarily ready to engage with. There has also been millions of pounds spent on retrofit measures, lifting some households out of fuel poverty. The fact that there is still a rising number of households in fuel poverty suggests these grants and schemes aren’t going far enough, or fast enough.

In the exhibition centre, NEA had laid out some of the “(Not) Coping Strategies” that can be seen in the homes of people experiencing fuel poverty/fuel crisis. Pictured (right) you can see such lowlights as a fridge not being switched on, despite life-saving medicine requiring refrigeration, and a barbecue being used to cook food indoors, which is both a fire safety hazard, and a potential source of lethal carbon monoxide.

It’s not the news anybody wants to hear when planning their festive activities and possibly stretching their budgets more than usual, but it’s important to keep in mind the news that Ofgem has today (Thursday the 23rd of November) announced that energy prices will rise by around 5% from the 1st of January.

For the ‘typical user’ in Cheshire and Merseyside (based on an annual usage of 2,700kWh of electricity and 11,500kWh of gas, and our local tariff and daily standing charge rates) this will mean the average monthly direct debit payment of £163 will rise to £171.

Obviously, it’s bad to hear these prices are rising, when so many people are already finding energy costs unaffordable. But it’s worth looking further ahead, to Spring 2024 when Cornwall Insight (being the company that Martin Lewis relies upon for future energy bill predictions) expect the Price Cap to drop by 6% from the 1st of April. This means the £171 monthly payment will become £161.

If you’re in credit with your energy supplier, they may not even look to increase your direct debit payment for these three months.

You can read the full Ofgem press release by clicking here.

Energy Projects Plus Chief Executive, Peter Owen, spoke to Helen Jones on BBC Radio Merseyside about the Price Cap and how important it is for people to take action wherever they can, to reduce the amount of energy they’re using, to avoid waste and keep bills under control. You can hear the full interview below:

Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brierley (right)

During a recent visit to Energy Projects Plus by Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brierley (pictured, right, at a community engagement event delivered by our Jo and Katie), our team of Energy Advisors were keen to highlight to him how unfair we feel it is for prepay customers to be expected to find additional funds to cover their daily standing charge, on days when they don’t use any energy (either through deliberate choice, or because they can’t afford it).

Each Autumn we receive panicked calls from residents who have topped-up their gas meter for the first time since Spring. They’ve spent their last £10 and the meter still isn’t providing their family with any warmth. Has something broken? No, unfortunately, the current standing charge rate of 34.2p per day for prepay gas meters in Merseyside and Cheshire, means over 6 months they will owe £62 for daily standing charge costs, which they have to pay before they are allowed to access any gas through their meter. For electricity meters the current rate is 64.33p per day in our region. Combined, they add £360 to the annual bill.

We’re not alone in thinking something needs to change: Citizens Advice, NEA, Fuelbank Foundation, Martin Lewis, and others have been active in challenging government regarding the nature of standing charges.

What are standing charges?

A client’s smart meter display, showing a debt of £65.48 outstanding.

The standing charge is a cost that is included in each electricity and gas bill. It is a cost set by your supplier. It is also included in the energy price cap that Ofgem reviews and sets every three months. Your supplier will charge you this cost each day, even if you do not use any energy on that day. The amount you pay will depend on your supplier and where you live within England, Scotland or Wales. 

The charge covers the cost to maintain the energy supply network, take meter readings, and support government social schemes, for example helping people that cannot afford energy, and environmental schemes. 

Some suppliers do not include a standing charge in their tariffs. Instead, they offer a tariff that works in a similar way, but you pay a bit more for the first one or two units called kilowatt hour (kWh) of energy you use. 

How do I have my say?

Ofgem has today (16th November) announced it’s opening up the debate about standing charges. They want to hear views from: 

• consumers, people who pay the electricity or gas bill in their household 

• energy sector, including suppliers 

• consumer groups 

• charities 

How to respond

Read Ofgem’s standing charges call for input discussion paper and reply by emailing your views to StandingCharges@ofgem.gov.uk by Friday 19 January 2024.

A team of 14 employees from BYK Additives Ltd, based in Runcorn, completed The Dales Way challenge in three days and raised £10,000 for good causes.

The Dales Way runs for a gruelling distance of 80 miles from Ilkley in west Yorkshire to Bowness-on-Windermere in Cumbria, passing through the heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the foothills of southern Lakeland to the shores of Lake Windermere.

Three charities were selected to receive the shared total sum of fundraising made by the company – The Lee Cooper Foundation, Widnes Food Bank and Energy Projects Plus.

A BYK spokesman said: “The group was made-up of employees from a number of different departments, including research and development, process engineering, IT, finance, quality, operations, site services and even a retired member of staff return to support the event.

Yesterday (Tuesday 31 October 2023), Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley saw the benefits of the energy regulator’s robust enforcement action when he visited our office, and joined us at a community event at the nearby Cherry Tree shopping centre in Wallasey (pictured).  

Thanks to us bidding successfully for a grant of £446,898 through the Energy Redress Scheme, our “Warm and Well” project is delivering energy advice to residents from Birkenhead to Bollington with household energy saving tips, understanding bills, how to contact suppliers and accessing grants and schemes for home energy improvements, all as part of our mission to reduce fuel poverty.  

Energy Projects Plus Chief Executive, Peter Owen, said: “The Energy Redress scheme provides vital support to our organisation. It enables us to give free advice and assistance to vulnerable residents across Cheshire and Merseyside, meaning they can keep warm and well in their home at a cost they can afford.”

Ofgem’s tough enforcement activity means that when an energy company breaches its service level requirements, the company is issued with a penalty notice. If improvements are not subsequently made, this can result in a fine. These penalty monies are then channelled into the Energy Redress Fund, and Energy Saving Trust helps make sure this cash goes to the right places, people and projects.  

With a rise of 100,000 in the number of fuel poor households in England to 3.26 million in 2022, meaning that 13.9% of households across Cheshire and Merseyside are in fuel poverty, this support is now more vital than ever.

Energy Saving Trust took on the management of the Energy Redress scheme in 2018 and have already redistributed over £100 million from Ofgem fines to targeted projects, meaning that over 500,000 households have also been reached with energy advice. 

At the visit, Jonathan Brearley met customers and staff and heard how the service customers are getting from some energy suppliers is still not good enough.  

Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley said: “Although it is great to see the money from our enforcement action making a positive difference in the local area, I am disheartened to hear that some customers can still not get through to their supplier on the phone, despite the minimum standards we have put in place. It is clear that more still needs to be done.” 

Tom Pridgeon interviews Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brierley

While visiting our office, Jonathan was interviewed for BBC Radio Merseyside, by reporter Tom Pridgeon. You can listen to the interview via our YouTube channel, here: https://youtu.be/6E7aUE_FaXk

Energy Projects Plus has helped over 9,000 households across the Wirral over the last year alone, and is pioneering joined up approaches such as GP heat referrals, as well as a study with Liverpool University.

We’re delighted to announce the return of the LEAP Boiler Scheme, which is an annual scheme, supporting vulnerable homeowners to access a free repair or replacement of central heating boilers they rely on as their primary source of heating.

We expect the scheme to run to the end of March 2024, or until funds are exhausted, whichever is sooner.

The eligibility and referral process is as follows:

LEAP Boiler Criteria

Homeowners with a broken boiler and in a “no heat situation” must meet the following criteria:

Claiming a means tested benefits

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income Support
• Pension Guarantee Credit
• Child Tax Credit / Working Tax Credit
• Universal credit
• Housing Benefit

Or – Total annual household income less than £31,000

And

There must be someone in the household who is:

• Aged 65 or over, or
• Aged under 5, or
• Suffering from one of the following health conditions,
• Cancer / Terminal illness
• Cardiovascular condition
• Respiratory condition
• Disability (affecting mobility)
• Mental Health Condition

Referral Process

• Refer your clients/tenants to us using the “General Referral Form”, found here: www.epplus.org.uk/referrals
• Please make sure on your referral that you select the option confirming the client is in a no heat situation.
• Upon receipt of your referral we will check client eligibility for a LEAP home visit. It is only during the home visit that the LEAP assessor will register the client as being eligible for support through the LEAP Boiler Scheme. This cannot be actioned outside a home visit.

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority launches second round of group-buying scheme for solar panels to help residents and small businesses cut energy bills and carbon emissions

• More homeowners to see the benefits of solar panels and battery storage
• First round of group-buying scheme saw 585 homes fitted with solar panels
• Solar Together 2022 reduced installation costs by up to 33%
• £5m investment across city region to deliver 10,300 tonnes of carbon reduction over 25 years

Many more homes across the Liverpool City Region are set to be fitted with energy-saving solar panels and battery storage and electric vehicle (EV) charging points with the repeat of a successful money-saving, group-buying scheme.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, launched Solar Together last year to enable residents to cut their energy costs while also reducing their carbon emissions

It is part of a raft of measures to enable the city region to reach the ambitious target to be Net Zero by 2040 or sooner.

A total of 585 installations were completed during the first round of the scheme, which reduced installation costs by up to 33% for a typical 14-panel layout.

The £5m invested by residents is predicted to deliver 10,300 tonnes of carbon reduction over 25 years – equivalent to taking 5,700 cars off the roads for a year.

Councillor David Baines, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Portfolio Holder for Net Zero and Air Quality, said:

“There is clearly a demand for solar panels to cut energy bills and to help the environment but for many people the process can seem complicated and finding a trustworthy contractor daunting.

“Solar Together helps to address those concerns by offering a simpler way to make the leap – last year’s scheme was popular and hopefully that success will encourage and reassure others.

“We know that we will need to halve our total energy use as a city region to hit our target of being net zero carbon by 2040 or sooner and every house and business that can produce its own energy takes it that much closer to our target.”

Once registrations have closed, pre-approved solar installation specialists will bid to complete the work in a reverse-auction. Purchasing at scale in this way offers residents better value than buying as an individual.

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has already fitted energy-saving features free-of-charge to more than 2,500 properties occupied by low-income households across the city region, as part of a £105million programme to retrofit 10,000 homes.

Anyone who want to register for the scheme should visit: www.solartogether.co.uk/lcr

How does Solar Together work?

• From 28 August until 27 October: Householders can register online to become part of the group for free and without obligation.

• Pre-approved UK solar PV suppliers participate in an auction. They are able to offer competitive pricing as the volume and geographic concentration makes it possible for them to realise greater efficiencies, which they pass on with lower prices for installations.

• After the auction, registered households will be emailed a personal recommendation which is specific to the details they submitted in their registration.

• If they choose to accept their recommendation, the specifics of their installation will be confirmed with a technical survey after which a date can be set for the installation of their solar PV system.

• All installations will be completed by 15 June 2024

• Telephone and email helpdesks are on-hand throughout the whole process which, together with information sessions, will allow households to make an informed decision in a safe and hassle-free environment.

Formerly known as BESN (Big Energy Saving Network), Energy Outreach Project is managed nationally by Citizens Advice, and delivered locally by charities such as Energy Projects Plus.

The project starts each year in summer, and runs through to the end of March. Local organisations can deliver an “Energy Champion” project, and/or a “Regional Energy Lead” project, each contributing to the national targets, in different ways. Energy Projects Plus is pleased to announce we have been successful for bidding for both projects.

Katie delivering an energy efficiency advice stall

Energy Champion
Energy Projects Plus has delivered these Energy Champion projects since 2013. This year we have 2 Energy Champions, with a combined target of engaging with 400 vulnerable energy consumers, in order to provide energy efficiency advice and support out in the community. We will attend as many events as possible, delivering our service from our energy efficiency advice stall. Visitors to our stalls can ask our expert Energy Advisors any questions they have about energy bills/keeping warm, take literature on topics of interest, and keep a the pen they use to complete our advice record slip.

Regional Energy Lead
Energy Projects Plus has delivered this project for the past four years, and is pleased to be delivering it again this year. Each region is assigned two Energy Leads. So, while our usual ‘patch’ is Merseyside and Cheshire, for the purposes of Energy Outreach Project, we are a Regional Energy Lead for the whole of the Northwest.

There are two distinct functions of this role:

Dom delivering a talk about Condensation, Damp & Mould

 

1. To deliver training on the topic of energy efficiency to front-line workers (staff and/or volunteers) who engage with potentially vulnerable residents. This training is short (usually an hour), informal, can be delivered face-to-face, or online, and its purpose is to empower individuals who might not normally engage with clients/tenants/members about energy efficiency, to provide some basic advice, and also to know where to refer people for further advice and support.
2. To provide support to Energy Champions. This includes a minimum of a monthly catch up with the Energy Champions in the area, and the delivery of two peer-to-peer support events where Energy Champions are encouraged to meet up, share best practice, and seek resolutions to any queries they might have around advice and delivery.

If you are planning a community event and you’d like an Energy Champion to attend, contact events@epplus.org

If you’re interested in receiving an “Affordable Warmth Briefing Session” delivered by one of our trainers, you can view any “open” sessions and book (free) tickets for yourself and your colleagues via our Event Brite page, here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/energy-projects-plus-29600230283. If you have a group of 8 or more people and would like to request an in-house briefing session, please contact training@epplus.org.