Energy Affordability Fund – Apply by 27/03/23

Project duration: January 2016 ongoing

The Energy Affordability Fund works with organisations that support people struggling to pay their heating bills and living in a cold home.

Administered by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) on behalf of National Grid, the Energy Affordability Fund has been a vital lifeline for many households, across the National Grid area since its inception in 2016.

Cost of living support

With soaring energy bills, rising inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, millions more people will be unable to heat their homes. This programme will help to improve local services and offer more support to people that need it.

The Energy Affordability Fund helps fund costs of innovative affordable warmth initiatives run by energy advice providers and community organisations in National Grid (formally WPD) network area across the South West, South Wales and the East and West Midlands.

Innovative services

Megan Blyth, who manages the project for CSE said: “In previous rounds of the fund, we supported innovative approaches to providing affordable warmth and Priority Service Register (PSR) services. We’ve also seen many inspirational adaptations to services in response to the pandemic, energy crisis and the cost-of-living crisis that target those who are at risk of not accessing services. We look forward to funding more projects as the next round of funding opens.”

Discover more about CSE’s previous funded projects here.

Energy Affordability Fund funding objectives

The specific focus of the funding changes to meet the challenges facing vulnerable customers. More broadly, the Energy Affordability Fund supports activities that meet one or more of the following objectives:

• Provision of in-depth one-to-one advice and support to enable vulnerable households to make their homes warmer, lower and manage their bills.
• Provision of support and advice to increase resilience of vulnerable households to severe winter weather and power cuts.
• Provision of support to enable customers to take up and benefit from low carbon technologies in the smart energy transition.
• Identification of new registrants for the PSR and support to those already registered.
• Targeting of services to support households that are in areas of higher deprivation, at greater risk and not connected to the gas network.
• Targeting of services to support households that have difficulty accessing support (for example due to digital exclusion, rural isolation, or language barriers)
• Working with healthcare providers, other support organisations and community partners, to raise awareness of the links between cold, damp homes and poor physical and mental health.

The fund is open to all organisation types, but activities must take place within the National Grid network area. Check if thats your area.