6. Local energy and fuel poverty projects and partnerships

Research has shown that significant improvements in energy efficiency are brought about by working in partnership and much emphasis is placed on this approach by various organisations. Partnerships can be either a formal or informal arrangement, but experience indicates that a formal partnership provides greater benefits to all parties than an informal arrangement. A formal partnership provides an opportunity to ensure projects are delivered and data is collected in a form that is appropriate to each partner organisation. Arun District Council is committed to developing and continuing such partnerships.

6.1 Identification of residents in fuel poverty

Fuel Poverty is a complex public health issue, to effectively tackle fuel poverty it is important to have a multi-agency approach. The West Sussex local authorities have come together under the direction of the Fuel Poverty Coordinator and adopted a ‘Framework for Action’, which draws together current interventions and governance structures, to identify influences and provide an overview of fuel poverty across the County.

The West Sussex Fuel Poverty Strategy is called Fuel Poverty- a Framework for Action across West Sussex 2015-2018 located at: https://westsussexenergy.co.uk/professionals/framework-for-action

Please note that this is under review.

The council is active in locating and supporting residents in fuel poverty. The Fuel Poverty Co- ordinator works with Arun District Council and the Home Energy Visitors in the following areas:

• Developing links with health professionals. All GP practices provided with copies of Stay Well this Winter booklets. Over 10,000 copies produced and distributed.
• All Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) promoting Home Energy Visits on websites and on patient communications in 2018/19.
• Training frontline teams in team meetings or dedicated training sessions to be able to identify fuel poverty and refer households for support – including OTs, Social Workers, Community Support teams, Prevention Assessment teams, Children & Family Centres, CABs, Age UK, etc.
• Dedicated ‘professionals page’ added to West Sussex Energy website in 2018.
• Links with key frontline and voluntary sector organisations developed.
• Newsletter published at least monthly during heating season with information on help/ support available. This was sent to over 160 subscribers.
• Online mapping tool developed using EPC and Mosaic data to help locate households at risk of fuel poverty: https://public.tableau. com/profile/ellen.gayler#!/vizhome/ WestSussexenergyhousingdatabase July2017/Story1
• We also can enhance this using RetrofitWorks tools to identify fuel poor households, along with the able-to-pay households.

6.2 HHCRO (Home Heat Carbon Reduction Obligation) top-ups

A scheme was established in 2016 to support HHCRO funding. Contractors could access a limited amount of HHCRO funding from energy suppliers, but this did not cover the full cost of heating system installations. The County Council provided top-ups to these grants to ensure that vulnerable residents could heat their homes. In July 2016 the County Council could no longer cover this cost so Arun District Council Private Sector Housing set up a budget to provide top- ups until 2017, when HHCRO ended.

In April 2017 in the absence of any grant funding Arun set up a heating loan scheme where it helped several residents to install heating systems, with the whole cost being tied into the property value so it would not need to be repaid until the property was sold.

6.3 Arun Safe and Warm Home Grants

Since January 2018 Arun District Council has been delighted to be able to access funding through the West Sussex Better Care fund to support vulnerable residents to stay safe and warm in their homes. This funding has been predominately used for heating installations and repairs. Residents who are vulnerable and on means-tested benefits or a low income are helped to access this funding and obtain quotes for the works. They are supported through

the entire journey from application through to installation and completion. This has resulted in over 60 installations with funding of £220,000 being awarded to vulnerable residents in the Arun district.

The Authority has received positive feedback from clients. Two examples of which are show below:

Mrs M: ‘My husband is in a bed in the living room due to his illness and it was very cold without heating, having the heating repaired has significantly improved his health and wellbeing’

Mr S: ‘I would like to thank you for all your help giving me peace of mind’. This client has a terminal illness and previously had no heating or hot water for two years.

6.4 Support for Park Homes

Arun District Council is supporting some of its most vulnerable residents by targeting support to park homes. These properties are typically very poorly constructed with little, if any, insulation. The occupants are often elderly and have health conditions. Through utilising grant funding, the Council has been able to undertake an ambitious project to provide external wall insulation to several park home sites across the district. Subject to eligibility, residents can access part, and often all, the cost of the works through this grant. Currently we have over 49 grant applications in progress with 3 installations complete. Over £160,000 of grant funding has been awarded to date for this project and we hope to continue this over the next year and, if possible, beyond.

This grant is funded through the Better Care Fund. It is hoped that this will continue but this is dependent on the Better Care Fund allocations each year from the Government and these Safe and Warm Home grants are part of West Sussex discretionary grant policy.

6.5 Empty Properties and Energy Efficiency

The Council runs an Empty Property Financial Assistance scheme where people are awarded grants and/or loans to improve their vacant properties and make them habitable. The council then has nomination rights and the property can be offered to residents in Housing Need. They are required to improve the energy efficiency of the properties by installing double glazing, loft insulation etc. to ensure the properties have a minimum EPC rating of E.

The non-repayable grants are for £5,000 and the loans are for £10,000 interest free. The funding is sourced internally; £300,000 was allocated in 2015. £100,000 for grants and £200,000 for loans. £100,000 has been spent over the last 2 years on the grants.

6.6 Innovation funding

In 2017 Arun District Council was successful in a bid for funding under the NEA (National Energy Action) Technical Innovation Project. This scheme was set up to study innovative technologies with small clusters of residents across the UK to see which ones were the most efficient to use and beneficial to the individuals.

Arun District Councils project was to supply, install and monitor, free of charge, innovative thermostatic radiator valves into ten domestic properties. The residents were assessed and classed as fuel poor and vulnerable to the cold.

It involved the installation of Honeywell Evo home intelligent heating controls and traditional thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) in homes where residents previously had no (or old, basic) TRVs. Energy monitors were also installed to help residents understand electricity use.

It has been claimed that smart thermostats can reduce bills by 20-30%, while standard TRVs have been claimed to save around £75 per year on heating bills

The study showed that the installation of standard TRVs reduced the running costs by about 5% and where the Smart TRVs were installed there was a reduction of 12% in gas bills. Residents found the TRVs easy to use and reported higher comfort levels and lower concerns over paying for energy. This study has fed into the National Energy Action project and will help with energy efficiency across the whole country.

6.7 Wellbeing and Public Health

Living in cold homes can have a hugely negative impact on health and wellbeing. Fuel poverty often leads to people making difficult decisions between heating their homes and providing food for their family. By improving energy efficiency fuel poverty can be addressed.

The Arun Wellbeing hubs provide information and referrals to a range of services as well as motivational support to individuals to assist in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. They also support residents in fuel poverty with a range of services.

Public health and local authorities together now have central roles to play in reducing fuel poverty and excess winter deaths, especially as local and upper tier authorities take greater responsibility in the delivery of local health services.

6.7.1 Home Energy Visitor Service

In 2012, the ‘Wellbeing Home’ project was set-up as a shared Wellbeing service for residents in Arun and Chichester Districts, offering home energy visits for fuel poor residents including the installation of physical energy saving measures but also focussing on behavioural change and helping people stay healthy in their own homes. The Home Energy Visitor (HEV) Scheme supports residents living in fuel poverty offering free home visits. This scheme has provided a vital and highly beneficial service. Since 2016 over 675 households have been supported through free; energy saving devices, energy saving advice, guidance on energy tariffs and help sourcing grants. The service helps some of Arun districts most vulnerable residents to keep warm in their homes and access funding and support to raise them out of fuel poverty.

6.8 Smart Meter promotion

Arun District Council are supportive of the Smart Meter roll out and encourage residents to monitor their energy usage. Promotional material sourced from Smart Energy has been used on display boards in receptions.

In 2018 Arun District Council was awarded £2,216 of Ebico funding to promote Smart Meters. The project involved the Home Energy Visitors raising awareness via 76 home visits, 2 training sessions, 7 events and through several leaflet drops in the District.

6.9 West Sussex Fuel Poverty Co-ordinator

In 2007 a county-wide Fuel Poverty Coordinator post was created using external funding to help alleviate fuel poverty in the Districts and Boroughs. The Fuel Poverty Coordinator works closely with all the District and Borough Council’s in West Sussex to ensure that fuel poverty is targeted through a partnership approach where appropriate and local opportunities are embraced and delivered.

The post continues to be supported by all the Districts and Boroughs and hosted by Arun District Council.

 6.10 ECO Energy Company Obligation funding

Local Authorities (LAs) have been able to determine eligible households living in, or at risk of, fuel poverty and those vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home, since the introduction of the ‘flexible eligibility’ mechanism – known as ‘LA Flex’. The mechanism was first introduced as a trial within the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) in April 2017 as part of the changes within ECO2t, which ran until September 2018.

The West Sussex Flexible Eligibility Statement of Intent (SOI version1) was published in January 2018 and has now been in place for over two years. An SOI is a mandatory requirement of participation in LA Flex, which sets out the criteria the LA use to identify if a household is eligible and allows declarations of eligibility to be made. The West Sussex SoI was amended with a SoI version 2 being formed in March 2019 to broaden the criteria in line with BEIS guidance. The aim of the SoI is to support fuel poor households, especially those that are not in receipt of ECO eligible benefits, the estimated 20% of fuel poor households that are not in receipt of any benefits; and low-income households vulnerable to the effect of living in a cold home.

Since the start of the scheme Arun district have the highest number of declarations of any other Local Authority. The Council has actively promoted the benefits of insulation in the area and worked hard to raise awareness of such schemes.

6.11 Other Local Authorities and Partner organisations

6.11.1 Working with West Sussex County Council

Your Energy Sussex was set up by West Sussex County Council (WSCC) in 2014 and is delivering exciting energy projects across the county. The partnership uses local installers to deliver these projects which creates investment, job and apprenticeship opportunities for people across county. Arun District Council along with other local authorities supports the work of Your Energy Sussex and works collaboratively with them to help deliver successful projects.

Arun District Council are working collaboratively with WSCC to establish an exciting new project called ‘Solar Together’. This involves collective purchasing to help our residents access cheaper and fully vetted solar installers to provide solar panels to their properties. This project will make it more affordable to our residents to access this renewable energy source and any surplus funding will support those in fuel poverty in West Sussex.

6.11.1.1 Sussex Tariff

Arun District Council has been a partner in the development and promotion of the Sussex Tariff. This is a West Sussex County Council initiative providing a ‘not-for-profit’ energy supplier offering competitively-priced, 100% renewable gas and electricity to residents This scheme was launched in February 2018 and aims to encourage more people in Sussex to compare their energy costs, switch and save money. It has gained almost 4,000 customers.

The service is supplied under a ‘white label’ agreement between West Sussex County Council and Robin Hood Energy, the licensed energy company owned by Nottingham City Council.

Within its first year of operation, Your Energy Sussex acquired a large enough customer base to cover its modest set up costs and now, in year two, will begin to use the surplus it generates to build a Fuel Poverty Fund which will be used to support projects targeted at residents who are struggling to pay their bills.

Sussex Tariff has a competitive pre-payment meter (PPM) tariff and encourages PPM customers to move to credit meters where appropriate. They proactively contact customers to move them off more expensive standard variable tariffs and on to more competitively fixed price tariffs.

In terms of customer numbers Arun district has seen a huge number of residents interested in this scheme with the largest number of sign ups compared to any other local authority in West Sussex. The residents of Arun district are obviously keen to switch energy supplier and appreciate having the option of a Council backed supplier.

Arun District Council is starting to explore the option of supporting a solar scheme in collaboration with West Sussex County Council. This will involve collective purchasing to help drive down the cost of solar installations for Arun residents and promote the take up of renewable technology.

6.11.2 West Sussex Affordable Warmth Partnership

Local Authorities in West Sussex work collaboratively to deliver projects and share information regarding energy efficiency and fuel poverty. This group consists of Arun District Council, Horsham District Council, Crawley Borough Council, Adur and Worthing Councils, Chichester District Council and Mid Sussex District Council. The group is led by the West Sussex Fuel Poverty Co-ordinator and meets every 3 months.

6.11.3 West Sussex South East & UK Carbon Action Networks

The Association of Local Energy Officers South East (ALEO South East) previously known as the South East Carbon Action Network (SE CAN) is a forum for the sharing of information among local authorities. The aim is to facilitate the reduction of carbon emissions, alleviate fuel poverty in the region and encourage sustainable energy measures. Arun District Council is an active member of the ALEO SE forum.

Arun District Council also provides regular representation at the Sussex LA Climate Emergency Group. Where Local Authorities across Sussex share information and expertise in ascertaining carbon data and projects to alleviate climate change.

6.11.4 West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership

The West Sussex Sustainable Business Partnership (WSSBP) was originally launched in 1998 as part of West Sussex County Council’s Economic Development activities. In 2009 the partnership expanded to include a local Sustainable Business Network that now has over 600 members and holds regular events across the region. Partners include the County, District and Borough Councils, Universities and the Environment Agency.

The Sustainable Business Partnership CIC Utilise Plus Programme started in January 2017 and ran until September 2019. The scheme supported businesses by offering energy audits and EPCs for eligible organisations. They have supported 15 SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises) in West Sussex along with a further 64 in progress. In Arun there have been 10 SMEs supported.

Arun District Council supports the work of the Sustainable Business Partnership to encourage environmentally sustainable business.

6.11.5 Local groups and organisations

Arun District Council recognises that it would not be possible to tackle fuel poverty and energy efficiency effectively in isolation and it therefore works in partnership with residents and organisations with an interest in the environmental, welfare and housing needs of residents in the district. In particular, the council works closely with a range of professionals, such as Occupation Therapists, GPs, Social Workers, Disabled Facilities Grant Surveyors, Prevention Assessment team, etc.

We link to charities such as: Stonepillow, Grandad’s Front Room, Peabody, Citizens Advice and Age UK.

We work closely with National Energy Awareness (NEA).

A range of local mechanical, electrical and insulation contractors are used to undertake the works. These are selected by residents.

The Warm Home Fund project is being undertaken in partnership with Southern Gas Networks (SGN) and Mears MPS (previously MITIE).

We also support the Sustainable Business Partnership CIC.

Arun District Council works very closely with other local Authorities especially West Sussex County Council. It has links to West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, Sussex Police, West Sussex Libraries, West Sussex foodbanks, Job Centre Plus (Bognor & Littlehampton Offices) and wellbeing groups such as Arun Lifeline.

Arun District Council has supported a successful bid for BEIS funding by a company called RetrofitWorks. The project aims to develop an alliance of expert and experienced advocates, advisers, designers and contractors to help support residents in improving the energy efficiency of their homes. They plan to use a targeted approach by assessing the housing stock and identifying properties that would benefit from energy efficient improvements.