Energy Action Scotland
Embedding multilingual energy advisers in deprived Scottish communities
Our project at a glance
- Strategic priority area: Targeting geographic communities most at risk of fuel poverty
- Support target: 3,759 households
- Duration: July 2024 to March 2026
- Investment: £457,118 over 16 months
- Forecast SROI: £2.00
Why we’re working together
More than one in three households are affected by fuel poverty and rates are higher for people living in social tenancies.
Many households from multicultural backgrounds, particularly where English is not their first language, struggle to access information and support to help stay safe and warm at home.
Energy Action Scotland (EAS) is the national fuel poverty charity in Scotland. Together, we’ve co-designed a new Safe and Warm initiative to build a new collaboration of grassroots organisations that will provide tailored energy advice to households in highly deprived fuel poor areas.
The programme will embed experienced energy advisers into community organisations, such as housing associations, who support a high percentage of households from multicultural backgrounds who are struggling to maintain a safe and warm home. The energy advisers will be able to communicate with households in their native languages, helping break down barriers to these households accessing much-needed support.
Project objectives
- Providing energy efficiency and income maximisation advice for households through trusted grassroots community organisations
- Encouraging eligible households to sign up for the Priority Services Register
- Raising awareness of carbon monoxide safety and providing free CO alarms to households most at risk of CO harm
- Providing emergency funding to households in fuel crisis
- Training new energy advisers to provide energy efficiency and income maximisation advice
How we’re working together
One-to-one energy and financial resilience advice
Our energy advisers help households in highly deprived communities in Scotland to improve their understanding of how to use energy safely, efficiently and affordably. As well as offering energy efficiency advice, advisers can support households with access to income maximisation and benefits checks. The advisers also work with households to reduce energy debt.
For households where English is not the first language, bilingual advisers will be embedded in Energy Action Scotland partner organisations and will support households in their native language. This will ensure that language and communication are not a barrier to them accessing support.
Supporting families in energy crisis
When advisers from Energy Action Scotland’s partner organisations identify a household unable to pay their energy bills, we’re able to provide crisis support in the form of emergency fuel vouchers.
Energy adviser training
We’re training five new energy advisers to achieve the City & Guilds Energy Awareness (6281-01) qualification. The training will equip advisers with knowledge of how vulnerable households can keep warm at home while saving money on energy bills.
How to get involved
Accessing support from the Safe and Warm initiative
As one of our VCMA network partners, you can refer households in Scotland to the Safe and Warm initiative through Energy Action Scotland's website.
Becoming an Energy Action Scotland partner
You can find out more about partnering with Energy Action Scotland on the charity’s website.
Energy Action Scotland is delighted to be working in partnership with SGN to target those households and communities most at need yet often least able to access support. Locally based, grassroots organisations are always the most effective at delivering targeted support to people in ways that best suit the needs of the household. By taking support to the areas where it is needed and removing the traditional barriers to accessing help, this is a partnership that can provide real change over the coming years.