Smart solutions for fuel poverty and exclusion in rural areas

Local Volunteers/Enablers from local community groups were recruited and they visited 150 households during the first three months of 2009.  They helped householders complete questionnaires on the energy efficiency of their home, gave free energy advice and offered onward referrals for other advice and benefits.  Householders were also given two free low energy light bulbs and a NIEA tea towel with energy saving tips. 

As a result of the project, the following referred packages were offered: –

• 11 households for the full Energy Savers homes package (new central heating)
• 79 households for Free Loft Insulation.
• 7 households for Cavity Wall Insulation.
• 84 Access to Benefits checks carried out which showed unclaimed pension credit of over £850 weekly (£44,200 annually) and unclaimed pension credit, saving credit of £300 weekly (£15,600 annually) as well as unclaimed housing benefit and rate relief.
• 74 households with people over 60 or with children under 5 referred for home safety checks by Western Home Environmental Assessment Project.

The key to the success of the project was the local knowledge provided by groups and organisations who helped to identify the appropriate households and got involved in the steering group which managed the project.

The project was so successful it is now being rolled out across the 88 most deprived rural wards in Northern Ireland and will target 4,200 households who are living in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion in a new project known as  “Maximising Access to Services, Grants and Benefits in Rural Areas”.