CREW Energy and Habitats & Heritage
Providing energy support to 4,000 fuel poor households in south-west London
Our project at a glance
- Strategic priority area: Targeting geographic communities most at risk of fuel poverty
- Support target: 4,000 households over two years
- Duration: April 2024 – March 2026
- Investment: £344,649 over two years
- Forecast SROI: £1.53
I would like to say thank you for the other day, and your visit.
You were so professional and so kind and friendly during your visit, and so thank you very much for your advice and guidance.
Mr Cameron
SWLEAP service user
Why we’re working together
It was estimated that 3.26 million households were living in fuel poverty in England in 2022, based on the LILEE metric (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 2023). This was already an increase of 160,000 households from the previous year, but this significant rise doesn’t account for the impact of the cost-of-living crisis that hit households from winter 2022-23 onwards.
In south-west London, there are vast inequalities with areas of extreme deprivation existing alongside wealthier areas.
The most recent UK Government sub regional fuel poverty data highlights that there are at least 13,521 households in fuel poverty in Wandsworth, 8,271 in Richmond upon Thames, 9,936 in Merton and 7,174 in Kingston upon Thames 7,174. This data doesn’t take into consideration the doubling of energy costs.
South West London Energy Advice Partnership (SWLEAP) is a partnership between two local not-for-profit organisations that are grounded in their local communities: CREW Energy in the London Borough of Wandsworth and Habitats & Heritage in the London Borough of Richmond.
The partnership provides energy advice to households in fuel poverty across Richmond, Wandsworth, Merton and Kingston. In recent years, the SWLEAP has seen an increase in demand for its service offset by a reduction in funding. During the colder months of the year, demand typically increases by 66% and the partnership can no longer meet this increasing need.
We’ve proudly joined forces with SWLEAP to build capacity into the existing multi-channel engagement service. With our support, we’ll deliver energy support to 4,000 south-west London residents living in fuel poverty through a telephone advice line, face-to-face appointments home visits and community events.
Project objectives
- Reaching 3,000 south-west London residents with energy support through 300 community events and workshops
- Providing 300 households with telephone-based case worker support to address energy concerns
- Promoting the Priority Services Register and helping families sign up for the free service
- Raising awareness of carbon monoxide (CO) safety and providing free CO alarms where appropriate
- Training four SWLEAP workers or volunteers to achieve the NEA Level 3 Award in Energy Awareness.
How we’re working together
One-to-one energy advice
Through free one-to-one sessions with SWLEAP advisers, we’re helping south-west London residents address their energy concerns. At these sessions, households can get support with increasing home energy efficiency, increasing household incomes, addressing financial debts and accessing energy safeguarding services such as the Priority Services Register.
We’re able to deliver this service over the phone, via video call and through home visits.
We offer this one-on-one support through our community events, as well as SWLEAP’s extensive network of community partners, including local authorities, housing associations, health services and community groups.
Community events and workshops
We’ll be delivering 300 community events and workshops to provide vulnerable households with advice on how to maintain a safe and warm home. These will take place in a variety of venues to reach underrepresented groups, including warm hubs, libraries, civic centres, faith centres, schools and children’s centres.
We aim to reach 3,000 vulnerable south-west London residents through these events, providing take-home energy advice packs in inclusive formats. We’re committed to providing an inclusive service and we’re working with local community organisations when delivering our events to ensure that culture and language are not a barrier to support.
Supporting families in energy crisis
When the SWLEAP team identifies a household unable to pay their energy bills, we’re able to provide crisis support in the form of emergency fuel vouchers.
Training for frontline workers
We will train four of the SWLEAP team to achieve the NEA Level 3 Award in Energy Awareness. This qualification equips the team with the knowledge and skills needed to provide comprehensive energy advice to vulnerable households.
As well as training for the SWLEAP team, we will also train 80 frontline workers and volunteers from other local organisations on carbon monoxide awareness and how to identify and support vulnerable households living in fuel poverty.
How to get involved
Accessing the SWLEAP service
As one of our VCMA network partners, you can refer your clients in south-west London to the SWLEAP service through the partnership website.
If you live in south-west London and you’re struggling with your energy bills or need energy advice, you can contact the SWLEAP team directly for help.
Becoming a partner
You can find out more about working with SWLEAP through the partnership website.
The SWLEAP partnership is really excited to be working with SGN to deliver this programme. This funding ensures we can support SW London residents for another two years, at this time of crisis. SGN has encouraged us to innovate our offering with new measures like EPC checks, CO training and CO Alarms. The funding also allows us to expand our work beyond Wandsworth and Richmond to neighbouring boroughs.