HEAT

Taking The HEAT Out Of Fuel Payments  

Many tenants experience real hardships given the economic climate and the rising cost of fuel. To help address fuel poverty issues CHA developed a new initiative in partnership with North Ayrshire Council’s Money Matters Service and ANCHO housing association.   

The Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT), managed by Cunninghame’s Regeneration Unit and funded through the Scottish Governments Wider Role Fund, provide support to tenants and residents by:-  

• Carrying out home visits to provide home energy advice
• Negotiating with utility companies on behalf of tenants
• Investigating and ensuring tenants are on energy suppliers’ social tariffs and/or priority registers
• Liaising with housing staff to address issues of home energy efficiency
• Carrying out benefit checks
• Referring tenants to money advice, welfare rights and debt advice agencies for assistance with financial inclusion issues
• Referring tenants to Credit Unions for low cost financial products and services  

HEAT also provides employment experience for a number of previously unemployed residents. Recruited as Trainee Advisors, HEAT provides them with paid work experience and an intensive training programme which included City & Guilds Energy Awareness, benefit checking and interviewing skills.  

Of the 247 clients supported by the HEAT initiative to the end of February 2011, 113 (46%) had been assisted to secure some form of financial gain.  The total amount of financial gain secured was £94507 – being a mixture of tariff reductions, debt write off, refunds, and benefit maximisation.  

The average saving therefore over all HEAT clients was £382, with the average for those 113 clients experiencing financial gains being much higher at £836.  

Examples include:

Miss C, Saltcoats   

Client now receiving £71.40 per week attendance allowance after being referred to NAC Money Matters by HEAT advisor, who realised she may be entitled to this benefit  after carrying out a benefit check.  This amounts to £3,713 per year.    

Mrs D,  Kilmarnock

Client had a prepayment meter in her property, but wanted it removed because she was aware her bills would be cheaper if she paid by direct debit.   Power supplier told client they would charge her £210 to have it removed. HEAT intervened on clients behalf and successfully argued it should be removed for free. Client is now paying by direct debit, saving around 14% on her previous fuel costs    

Mr& Mrs A, Ardrossan 

Following advocacy work on his behalf by HEAT Advisors with his power supplier, Mr A has had his electricity tariff reduced from 25.1 per unit to 14.5 per unit and his gas tariff reduced from 7.5p to 4.5p per unit.  This is now saving him £40 per month on his fuel bills. After doing a benefit check and referring Mrs A to NAC Money Matters, she is now receiving the higher rate mobility payment of £3640 per year. This makes a total financial gain of £4180 per year.   

Mr M, Ardrossan 

Client had been without heating for 3 weeks since moving in to his flat as there was £29 of debt on the pre-payment meter that he could not afford to clear. He was putting £5 in at a time, but this would only last for a couple of days before he had to self-disconnect. This was January 2010 during the coldest winter for many years. After HEAT contacted fuel supplier on his behalf, they sent out an engineer, who confirmed the debt belonged to the previous tenant. His meter was then recalibrated & credited with £29, enabling him to get back in to credit and use and pay for his heating properly.   

A progress report on the HEAT initiative was completed at the end of March 2011.   

A copy of the report is available here.

In 2011/2012 funding has been secured from the Scottish Government Wider Role Team to extend the project to March 2012. Over this period the HEAT Team will be concentrating services on the tenants of 5 housing associations throughout Ayrshire – ANCHO, Irvine Housing Association, Ayrshire Housing, West of Scotland Housing Association and Cunninghame Housing Association.  

For more information on HEAT contact:  

HEAT Team,

The Michael Lynch Centre for Enterprise

71 Princes Street Ardrossan

KA22 8DG

Tel 01294 475690