Western Power Distribution’s (WPD) Affordability Fund

Western Power Distribution’s (WPD) Affordability Fund is designed  for not-for-profit organisations in the areas in which WPD operates (South West England, South Wales and the Midlands) to enable them to run initiatives that support fuel poor people and households, particularly by giving energy advice and services connected to the Priority Services Register (PSR).

Applicants will be expected  to show how the WPD funding will give them the opportunity to deliver new activity in a way that would not have been possible otherwise.

The funding can be spent on reasonable costs associated with meeting the following objectives in new and innovative ways, such as:

o Identifying new registrants for the Priority Service Register and offering support to households already registered;
o Helping Priority Service Register eligible households to lower and manage their bills;
o Providing advice and support to enable vulnerable households to carry out home energy efficiency improvements;
o Target home energy advice and support to householders who are in areas of higher deprivation and areas not connected to the gas network, potentially using WPD’s vulnerability app, found on WPD social indicator mapping; or
o Working with healthcare providers to raise awareness of the links between cold, damp homes and poor physical and mental health.

In addition to the objectives above, these two objectives can also be funded:

1. Training front line worker who do home visits (for example, healthcare professionals) to look out for signs of vulnerability and make appropriate referrals; and
2. Training for staff and volunteers, such as City and Guilds for Energy Advisors, or home visit safety training.

All funded activity must be for projects for a minimum of six months long, taking place between December 2018 and May 2019. All funded activity and reporting must be completed by 14 June 2019.

Not for profit organisations may apply for a grant of up to £20,000.

Eligible applicants must meet the following criteria:

o Be legally incorporated, but unincorporated organisations may apply if they team up with a larger organisation. Statutory bodies and private entities will be eligible if they can demonstrate a significant need for the funding;
o Have a bank account; and
o Be based in the WPD network area (Midlands, South West England and South & West Wales) as defined by WPD's postcode database. Applicants can use the postcode checker to find out whether they are in an eligible area.

Applicants must be currently delivering one or more of the four energy advice and outreach activities listed below – or be able to demonstrate that they have delivered them within the previous 18 months.

o Provide an existing energy advice service over the phone;
o Provide home visits for complex cases;
o Run events, drop-ins and workshops on domestic energy management and tariff switching; and/or
o Work as part of an existing referral network with other organisations on a receiving and referring to basis.

PLEASE NOTE: successful applicants will be required to attend a networking and skills sharing event in CSE’s offices in Bristol on Wednesday 5 December 2018.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 26 October 2018.

Further information, together with an application form – which should be returned by email to the address below - can be downloaded from the CSE website.

Contact details for the Fund are:

Rachel Haycock or Megan Blyth 
Centre for Sustainable Energy 
3 St James Court 
St James Parade 
Bristol 
BS1 3LH 
Tel: 0117 934 1400 
Email: wpdfund@cse.org.uk

(Source: GRIN)