Power Partners, a community investment fund from UK Power Networks is now open for applications. The fund will support community organisations to combat fuel poverty, improve energy efficiency and support people in vulnerable circumstances. UK Power Networks are the the UK’s largest electricity distribution network. They deliver electricity to 8.3m homes and businesses, around a quarter of the UK population, in the South East, East of England and London. Centre for Sustainable Energy have been asked to manage the fund.
Julie Minns, head of customer engagement at UKPN, said that the fund stood to further enhance the network operator’s support of vulnerable consumers.
“We would particularly like to support projects that support hard to reach or seldom heard communities or can be replicated and scaled up across the whole of London, the South East and East of England,” she said.
The fund is open to not-for-profit organisations in UK Power Network’s region (see map). Grants of between £2,000 and £20,000 are available for projects that deliver outcomes in the following two categories:
- Income maximisation for vulnerable households through face-to-face energy efficiency advice, including tariff switching and time of use tariff awareness; new registrations for the Priority Service Register; provision of energy advice training and support for frontline workers.
- CO2 and financial savings and energy efficiency improvements for popular community spaces achieved through the installation of insulation, low-energy lighting and appliances, heating upgrades or renewable technologies.
Application forms and more information can be found here.