The Government has made a further £1 million available to help charitable and community organisations help people to cut their fuel bills. That’s about a penny and a half per UK resident: it’s unlikely to have a major impact. The funds are being channelled through the Big Energy Saving Network and the aim is to concentrate on providing help for “vulnerable” customers. “Vulnerable” is rapidly becoming the word of the moment, with political parties rushing like Victorian do-gooders to find these poor unfortunates and dispense a bit of charity – while either implementing or going along with cuts in core funding such as welfare benefits. The main advice which the charities and community organisations are expected to hand out to the vulnerable is advice on how they can change their fuel provider(s) to save money. This is a strange strategy which leads nowhere really. The advocates of switching say that it is a good strategy for consumers because they will get a smaller bill. They say that the exercise puts pressure on the companies to charge less in order to keep customers. However, if switching truly creates a competition which keeps all companies’ prices low, why not stay with your original provider on the basis that its prices will be coming down shortly anyway? There are also questions to be asked about how companies make smaller bills. We’ve never yet heard of a utility company boasting that it’s cut its profits in order to reduce bills. On the other hand, several of them seem to have cut their wage bills by keeping pay rises below inflation or cutting the number of staff they employ. This means that people who rely on selling goods or services to people who get their wages from utility companies will find that their markets are getting smaller – and so we end up with fewer people having money to spend and the economy circulates down into a recession. As well as offering vulnerable people advice on switching suppliers, the groups receiving funding are expected to give advice on the different bill payment methods available and information on the various Government schemes that help lower bills – such as how homeowners who are on benefits can get help with insulation costs or replacing old boilers. Ed Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “We are doing everything possible to help people cut their energy bills. But there are some things they can do to help themselves, like making sure they’re signed up to a competitive energy deal, and if they’re not, switching. We’ve made switching easier and faster and it can save hundreds of pounds. This new funding means vital energy saving guidance can be targeted where it is needed most, so I urge local authorities, community groups and charities to come forward and help to take on this challenge.” It is not clear what Mr Davey means by stating that the Government is doing “everything possible” to help people cut their energy bills. There’s a range of measures – such as cutting taxes on energy company, or enforcing a profit or dividend holiday – which the Government does not seem even to be considering. Apparently nearly 160 projects across Great Britain received Big Energy Saving Network funding last year. For example, Wealden District Council, in partnership with a community engagement company, used £4,000 worth of funding to create the first ever energy “pop-up shop” in East Sussex. The pop-up energy advice centre offered practical advice to local people on how to cut costs on energy bills, tips on lowering energy bills and how to switch suppliers, in a bid to help residents make their homes more energy efficient and tackle local fuel poverty. In this way, public money is propping up small community consultative projects which count as private sector companies but which are not accountable, as public organisations would be, for what they do with the public money they receive. The Government expects a further 160 projects to obtain grant funding this year and that each project will recruit and train an army of volunteers – 500 in total – to carry out the advice programmes this winter. The army of volunteers will probably include a large number of people who have been thrown out of work by government cuts in public spending. Although most of them will be on short term and temporary contracts, their voluntary work may exclude them from unemployment figures and give the impression that the economy is improving.
Grant info Organisations including parish councils, community energy groups, charities, faith groups and registered social landlords are invited to bid for funding to help run projects that run this autumn and winter. Each grant is worth up to £5,000 and will be payable to deliver energy saving advice projects to vulnerable consumers (those consumers who have difficulty accessing information or understanding how to save money on their bills) and the frontline workers, such as health professionals and care workers, who support them. Eligible organisations are invited to make an application for funding by no later than Friday 8th August, through https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/big-energy-saving-network-grant-offer-fund.