Expensive Home Energy costs – what’s the solution?

The exceptional energy security crisis and rising costs of living can make us all feel overwhelmed and hopeless every time we see another energy bill or read the latest news. The current global impacts of wars, energy security and economic uncertainty all serve to increase anxieties about how households will manage.

For the first time, on a large scale, people are questioning their energy bills, and actively searching for what help is out there; with many more households being pushed into fuel poverty than ever. Current estimates see 6.5m households in fuel poverty. With this being determined by 10% of net income being spent on energy bills it amounts to a staggering 1 in 4 households.

So, what help is out there?

This is where we see Community Energy groups doing some fantastic work to help vulnerable households with energy usage concerns. There have been some very positive and important movements towards a supportive, greener, and more reliable energy source in the form of the Community Energy movement.

“What is Community Energy?” - Well… that’s a great question! As far as definitions go, Younity's blog highlights it nicely. Community Energy England also describes it like this:

“Community energy refers to the delivery of community-led renewable energy, energy demand reduction and energy supply projects, whether wholly owned and/or controlled by communities or through partnership with commercial or public sector partners.”

Local communities support each other

In short, community energy is when local communities coming together to make big changes in the energy sector for the benefit of local people.

Whether it’s through the creation of a renewable energy supply project such as community-owned solar panels or advising people on energy efficiency measures in homes – it has something for everyone.

It has something for those who need to examine their energy source and usage, that also have an interest in locally generated energy – essentially, a massively high proportion of the UK currently!

Community Energy groups and energy advisory support

A big part of community energy as a movement focuses on energy savings, retrofit advice, and helping find grants or funding for individual households and wider community projects. Community energy groups will seek out funding from private, governmental or supplier initiatives and would also know of local funding available. In some cases, they can be a key part in sourcing the available funding as well as delivering the local energy saving projects to vulnerable households.

The energy challenge and Community Energy solutions

The energy we use in our homes makes up about 27% of total UK energy consumption so it’s really important that we challenge ourselves to learn more about what we can do at home to help ourselves, our communities, and the planet.

Organisations such as Tamar Energy Community are taking those steps and educating us on how to better manage our homes to prevent unnecessary costs and energy usage.

And that, right there, is the philosophy of community energy too. Make enough projects, make enough community outreach programmes, and eventually it will lead the world to a brighter, greener, and more sustainable future.

Community energy takes these big problems of greenhouse gases, fuel poverty and lack of knowledge and comes up with small scale solutions which hold large scale possibilities. 

Bringing energy savings projects to life

Tamar Energy Community is a valued partner of Younity. They are a non-profit organisation built around the idea that everyone should have access to affordable energy and energy efficient homes.

They have done some fantastic work by developing a Warmer Healthier Homes (WHH) programme with sister organisation South Dartmoor Community Energy to help tackle fuel poverty in the West Devon and South Hams districts. A programme funded through Ofgem appointed Energy Redress, who distribute funds to energy related projects.

Another important link with Tamar is West Devon & Learn Devon (Devon County Council). A community of volunteers linked to the WHH programme hold a series of workshops to engage households in reconsidering their energy at home with energy savings ideas such as one-pot cooking. Tamar Energy Community drives this vital programme by seeking households that meet certain criteria such as being in receipt of benefits, poor health, or other vulnerabilities. People are encouraged to talk about energy efficiencies in tandem with other partners such as carer groups, memory cafes and the WI; getting in front of vulnerable members of the community is key to the success of this approach.   

Any funding accessed, directly helps vulnerable households by installing simple energy saving measures, giving advice on energy reduction, sourcing grants but also to help with tackling supplier issues. Emergency funding through this partnership is available for thermal throws for heating the person vs the space.

Many community energy projects across the country are active and looking for people to get involved! If you are interested in supporting - I would highly recommend getting in touch with your local community energy group and become part of this exciting and innovative initiative.

See what they’ve got going on, see how you can support them, learn more about community energy - get stuck in!