Big Energy Saving Network Interim Report. from Energise Sussex Coast. Nicki Myers

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1 Big Energy Saving Network Interim Report from Energise Sussex Coast Nicki Myers Introduction Energise Sussex Coast has 15 Champions across the South East of England covering parts of Kent in the East to Chichester in the West. The groups reach up to the edges of Greater London in the north and only the English Channel stops us in the South. All the groups exist with an awareness of climate change and fuel poverty and to provide information and services to their local community; the Big Energy Saving Network was seen as a best- fit scheme for our groups. There are a variety of groups in various stages of maturity across the region, some have been established for years such as Ovesco in Lewes which has achieved a number of community owned energy generation schemes such as the installation of Solar PV panels on local schools. Others are based rurally like Communities Matter that has a vibrant volunteer base. They opened Pop Up shops across East Sussex in 2014, some of which were so successful they had queues out of the door! Their future plans include a district heating system run via a biomass boiler in the village where they are based; Barcombe. Other groups are getting into their stride; Worthing Transition Town are opening an Energy Shop today which has an enviably central position within the town.

2 Some groups are start ups such as Eastbourne Community Energy and Solesco in Chichester. All groups are run with enormous amounts of dedication, free time and commitment to what we are doing. Big Energy Saving Network Consumer Events The Big Energy Saving Network project interacts very well with the aims of our various groups; to advise those who are vulnerable within society to reduce the cost of their bills. This also allows us to deliver energy saving advice at the same time and establishes the groups as trusted independent advisers within our communities. The funding has enabled us to run events which would have been otherwise beyond our means. After three months we can start to build up a picture of how we are doing. Over the region, we have held over 60 sessions enabling us to reach over 400 consumers. Of those consumers, 80 were over 65 and 67 stated they were disabled. Of these we were pleased to reach 17 consumers who were both over 65 and disabled and therefore most vulnerable and needing healthy, heated homes at an affordable price. Bill Checking with Energise Sussex Coast

3 50 of our consumers were on prepayment meters and we were able to give them advice. Of the consumers we reached, 29 switched actually on the day, unfortunately we have no way of finding out how many people switched after their session but judging by the feedback, we would hope quite a few. Here is a very small selection of comments from consumers: Great information, Made me feel very welcome, a very useful meeting which could save me money, I have received very good advice and will switch when fixed rate finishes in May 2015 helpful advice very informative I am delighted with help from Rachel Gamble and with the saving I have made excellent service, will follow up It was great, don t know why more people aren t doing it Really useful advice delivered in a friendly manner Brilliant considering how complicated it is, I looked at the computer and felt like crying Wow efficient. Did what you said you would do! Ollie Pendered also has this anecdote : I did a bill checking session this morning for Sussex Childrens Service Staff - it was a fun session with 12 staff, we did an hour and a half discussion about bill checking. I started the session by asking each person to introduce themselves, say who their energy provider was and how they pay for energy. As we went round every question about energy comes up and we discuss it as a group. Very therapeutic! We set up three laptops they teamed up into groups of four and we did the bill checking en masse - it worked really well and everyone laughed a lot. One of them saved 580 pounds, she had electric under floor heating. Big Energy Saving Network Front Line Worker Training Overall we have trained over 170 Front Line Workers by mid January ranging from housing officers to charity workers and local government employees. The Front Line Workers we have trained are able to reach over 4000 vulnerable people which is really great news. We know that our standard of training is good as 139 Front Line Workers rated our training good or very good and some of the very positive comments are listed below: Very informative and well presented thank you (Bhesco training) People need this information, the word needs to be spread (e- c- e training) Very good session (Communities Matter training) A good initiative (Rachel Gamble training)

4 Front Line Worker Training Issues and Feedback The more established groups have more of an infrastructure to cope with the start of the scheme and already had plans for pop up shops. However, we all found that it took time to build up venues for consumer events. For example, in Hastings, Energise Sussex Coast have an energy desk at the Job Centre once a week and are building up confidence with the front line workers there, enabling them to hold a training session for staff. This training is much appreciated as energy bill management is seen as a key part of a more general budget management programme introduced by the Job Centre at the start of Universal Credit. As ESC are there regularly, those attending the Job Centre now know to bring their bills to be checked and are telling their networks. We have had unsuccessful venues, eg e- c- e have been visiting Food Banks in order to give advice to consumers there but report that there is a feeling of shame when consumers visit Food Banks and no one is keen to stay for advice although there would be a genuine need for this target group to get help with switching. Across the region, we are also finding that our groups are duplicating work when contacting organisations such as Age UK and it would be more economic in future years to have one person making contact and booking sessions across the whole region. As mentioned to Heather Critchlow, a two year scheme would allow this to happen as well as allowing groups to have the confidence to book up venues in advance. The groups and especially the new groups all suffer from a lack of money, time and staff and some have suffered a slow start because of this.

5 Although DECC have reduced the paperwork needed since last year there is also a feeling that this is still too onerous and we would welcome the chance to work with you on this. The consumer forms especially can be off-putting for the more vulnerable of our community and can foster suspicion. The Front Line Worker feedback forms are not so much of a problem, however it would be helpful if DECC could tell us at the start of the project exactly what information they are looking for and perhaps the feedback forms can be condensed to 2-pages. The targets are felt to be very onerous for new groups and we recommend that they could be reduced for new start up groups doing the BESN for the first time. As it was felt to be too expensive to travel to London for the recent workshops, we held our own workshop in January, and will hold another one in February to share our experiences. The January workshop was seen as very successful not least to enable us to share experiences and to reduce any feeling of isolation.

6 The Energy Champions pictured in Bexhill- on- Sea last year Conclusion The BESN is a great project and we are all working hard to reach the targets set. We all would like this project to be a two year (or more) project as this would ensure that time was not wasted in establishing links with local organizations.