Warmworks
Helping 6,000 vulnerable Central Belt households use energy safely, affordably and efficiently
Our project at a glance
- Strategic priority area: Targeting regional communities most at risk of fuel poverty
- Support target: 6,000 households over 29 months
- Duration: October 2023 to March 2026
- Investment: £158,960 over 29 months
- Forecast SROI: £1.69
I’m so pleased with the Warmworks Aftercare Service for the help they provided. Having taken the time to fully understand my situation, they signposted me to other useful organisations for specialised support. They referred me to a crisis fund which helped to put food on the table during this especially hard time. I am so very grateful.
Mrs McCrae
Warmworks beneficiary
Why we’re working together
More than 850,000 Scottish households are living in fuel poverty. The cost-of-living crisis has significantly impacted fuel poor households, making these households more likely to self-disconnect to reduce energy costs or use unsafe heating practices which put their health at risk.
Warmworks is the managing agent of the Scottish Government’s national fuel poverty scheme, Warmer Homes Scotland. Through the scheme, Warmworks supports households who struggle to heat their homes and afford their energy bills.
Warmworks identified that improving the fabric and heating of fuel poor homes wasn’t enough to lift some vulnerable households out of fuel poverty. Many households find it difficult to use their new central heating systems and understand energy tariffs to enable them to stay warm affordably and effectively.
In March 2022, we launched a 19-month pilot programme with Warmworks to provide a new dedicated aftercare service to support 300 vulnerable households in the central belt area of Scotland to use energy safely, affordably and efficiently.
Our aftercare service was inundated by vulnerable households wanting support. So much so, we reached our target of supporting 300 customers by March 2023. When our pilot ended in June 2023, we’d helped 684 vulnerable households – more than double the initial target.
Recognising the scale of the ongoing need, we’ve extended our partnership with Warmworks to March 2026. During this time, we aim to support a further 6,000 fuel poor households with in-depth energy usage advice and carbon monoxide safety advice.
Project objectives
- Providing carbon monoxide safety advice and offering free CO alarms to households most at risk of CO harm
- Empowering 4,000 vulnerable households to use their home heating systems affordably and efficiently
- Encouraging eligible households to sign up for the Priority Services Register
How we’re working together
One-on-one energy advice
Warmworks aftercare specialists support households with in-depth personalised advice on how to use their new central heating systems. They give households the knowledge and confidence to maintain a warm home affordably and efficiently.
The trained energy advisers will also ensure households are using energy safely. Advisers provide information on CO safety and will install free CO alarms if required.
If a household is eligible for the energy and water industry Priority Services Registers, Warmworks advisers will explain the benefits of joining.
Holistic wellbeing and financial support
Warmworks advisers go beyond providing just energy advice. They ensure vulnerable households are safe and well in other aspects of their lives too. Wellbeing conversations are a key part of the partnership and enable us to build trust with households that enables holistic support. From these conversations, we’ve identified families in crisis that we were able to support with emergency funds for food vouchers and recognised a need for a tailored gas safety leaflet to support our discussions around CO awareness.
It’s a fantastic opportunity being able to work in partnership with SGN to deliver a much-needed service to customers in fuel poverty. The service has been extremely valuable reaching over 300 customers and providing a wraparound aftercare service to the most vulnerable homes.