Grants of up to £20,000 are available to support not-for-profit organisations seeking to help people struggling to pay for heating bills and suffering from a cold home.

This year, the Energy Affordability Fund – funded by Western Power Distribution (WPD) and administered by the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) – will help fund the costs of innovative affordable warmth initiatives running between November 2022 and April 2023. With soaring energy bills, inflation and the cost of living crisis, this winter will see many more people unable to afford to heat their homes. This money will help to improve local services and offer the necessary help.

Who's eligible?

As before, applicants need to be based in the WPD network area – broadly South Wales, the Midlands and the Southwest.

The Energy Affordability Fund will support activities that meet one or more of the following objectives:

• Provide in-depth advice and support to enable people in vulnerable circumstances to carry out home improvements to make their homes more energy efficient.
• Help vulnerable households to lower and manage their bills.
• Provide support and advice to increase resilience of vulnerable households to severe winter weather and provide advice on what to do in a power cut.
• Target home energy advice and support to households that are in areas of higher deprivation, at greater risk and not connected to the gas network, potentially using WPD’s vulnerability app.
• Identify and support vulnerable or low-income households in rural and urban areas who have difficulty accessing support.
• Identify new registrants for the PSR and offer support to those already registered.
• Work with healthcare providers, other support organisations and community partners, to raise awareness of the links between cold, damp homes and poor physical and mental health.

The fund is open to all organisation types, but activities must take place within the WPD network area. Given the complexity of cases and issues that people in vulnerable circumstances are currently facing, the fund this year is primarily aimed at experienced energy advice organisations. To qualify for a grant, organisations must be currently delivering energy advice and outreach activities (or have done in the recent past).

For more information, and to apply, click here.