Presented at the CAN National Training-Day Conference Held at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on 7 October 2014 By Don Leiper - Director, New Business, E.ON Energy Solutions & Paul Maplethorpe - National Chair of the Carbon Action Network Carbon Acton Network Awards 2014

East Midlands CAN Award Winner Electric Corby Community Energy Collecting Award: Sara Earl Electric Corby is a Community Interest Company formed with the support of the Borough Council, to establish Corby as the UK’s leading practical, community-scale test centre for future low carbon living and transportation, and to redistribute the benefits of its labours to the Corby community. Having a fair, low-price, 100%-green offer was a priority to CBC and EC when researching an energy switching tariff for the community. Partnering with Green Energy UK, ECCE is able to offer a same-price tariff, however the customer pays, two simple tariffs and a cash back to the customer and Corby community projects. The scheme was launched at CBC’s Fuel Poverty Summit, and a ‘Power to the People’ rally through the Town Centre. Since the launch, ECCE ‘community dome’ has visited various local festivals, regular Corby Radio energy call-in ‘surgeries’, vulnerable peoples events with the NHS, and Corby Voluntary Community Service DECC Big Energy Savers Scheme. ECCE have found a better energy offer for the people of Corby and have launched a Community Energy 4% switching rate in 2013/14. Other Nominees: Nick Bolton and Duncan Lucas

East Pennine CAN Award Winner Jane Mears East Riding Council Collecting Award: Paul Maplethorpe Jane has undertaken a number of air source heating projects for private landlords in her East Riding Council area over the past few years.

London Borough of Hillingdon In 2013, London Borough of Hillingdon set out to deliver a large-scale solid wall insulation (SWI) scheme to private sector households. The scheme was the first of its kind in London and delivered SWI to 135 homes in the space of just a few months. Hillingdon provided £100,000 worth of funding towards the cost of works and secured around £800,000 worth of ECO funding towards solid wall insulation. SWI was delivered through the Council’s Warm and Cozy scheme and the works were carried out by Dyson Energy Services. Through the scheme, the Council also offered householders a range of additional measures such as HHCRO funded boilers, loft and cavity wall insulation and referrals to a wide range of services for support. In total, the Council had over 300 enquiries about SWI but could not continue the scheme following the announcement of the changes to ECO and the drastic drop in funding for SWI. However, the London Borough of Hillingdon has now secured further funding through the Green Deal Communities Funding. With this funding they plan to follow up on existing enquiries and aim to deliver a further 600 solid wall installations in the borough. London HECA Award Winner Jo Gill

Collecting Award: Jonathan Collins Electricity North West are the region’s Electricity Distribution Network Operator. In January 2014, they took a step into helping their customers who may be suffering from the effects of fuel poverty. Despite the barriers, Electricity North West developed the Power Saver Challenge, uniquely combining a carbon-saving, behavioural-change program with a fuel-poverty program. A pilot scheme directly targeting over 1,000 properties within the Stockport Area, with a 50/50 split between affluent and priority neighbourhoods, the team are tasked with signing up residents and supporting them to reduce their electricity consumption over the next winter period. Each household is a member of a team and, should the team be successful in making a significant reduction, those signed up will receive a reward, which will comprise of an A-rated appliance or the resident may choose to donate this into a community project. Each household registered also receives a range of energy saving gadgets to help them to save electricity and money. North West CAN Award Winner Electricity North West

Carol has unstintingly applied herself to formulating schemes and working tirelessly for the people of Gosport and the wider region but the last year has been particularly busy and challenging for her. Carol has taken a leading role in the successful Green Deal Communities bid made by Gosport, Eastleigh, Portsmouth and Southampton, and has played a major part in shaping that scheme and finding ways to adapt it following Government policy changes, to maintain its original aim. Carol was instrumental in ensuring that Gosport was well prepared for this scheme, by identifying properties which may benefit from such a scheme well before the bid was finalised, thus meaning that Gosport were “at the front of the queue”, and well prepared, despite being the smallest LA in Hampshire. She has also taken a leading role in the acclaimed “Hitting the Cold Spots” scheme which is run by Hampshire County Council, and was largely modelled on Gosport’s own “Help is on Hand” scheme, helping to bring warmth to struggling households within Hampshire who have suffered heating failures and who do not have the resources to resolve them. South East CAN Award Winner Carol White Gosport Borough Council

The Swindon Safe & Warm scheme used an area-based approach to tackle fuel poverty, whilst introducing support and advice for vulnerable people at risk of falls or fires in the home. Safe & Warm provided one simple point of access into multiple services to make some of the most vulnerable people warmer and safer in their homes. Integrating a series of health-focussed campaigns via GP surgeries and pharmacies maximised the reach of this programme. By the end of 2014, almost 17,000 households had engaged with the scheme, generating some 37,000 actions. This included installing over £650,000 of insulation measures and identifying over £2.6 million in unclaimed benefits through its income maximisation service. One in three households had advice or support to reduce the risk of a fall, with £27,000 of funding provided for small practical measures, potentially saving the significantly higher costs to the NHS of fall-related treatment. A further 3,500 fire safety measures were funded through Safe & Warm. With the area-based approach completed, the scheme is moving into a new phase of engagement with public health and increasing partner referrals into the programme. South West CAN Award Winners David Miles & Alison Robinson

Act on Energy Rachel has worked tirelessly over several years to support local authorities in the West Midlands, taking on the Regional Chair of West Midlands CAN, supporting 12 sub-regional local authorities in delivering their obligations under the updated Home Energy Conservation Act and providing individual support to specific local authorities in planning and organising their Green Deal and ECO arrangements. Although Rachel is actually employed by Act on Energy (a local energy saving charity), she has voluntarily taken on the role of supporting all of the regional LAs through chairmanship of West Midlands CAN. Many of the LAs in the sub region, to whom she delivers specific support services, rely heavily on her extensive knowledge of affordable warmth and energy conservation issues. During , she has directly assisted Worcestershire County Council in building a successful DECC funding bid and delivering its outcomes. She has also dedicated several days each week to the Council from an already busy work load, when they failed to recruit a suitable candidate to manage their Green Deal program. Following on from that, she agreed to provide increased support to Redditch and Bromsgrove Councils when their Energy Conservation Officer left. West Midlands CAN Award Winner Rachel Jones

Brenda is widely viewed as one of the most experienced in her field and was awarded an MBE in 1998 for her work on energy efficiency and received the Energy Institute’s Melchett Medal in the same year. Brenda is an Emeritus Fellow at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, following her retirement in September She is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Exeter. At the ECI, Brenda was the former head of the Lower Carbon Futures Team and a Co- Director of the UK Energy Research Team. Her main research focus is on energy efficiency and the way that energy is used in British homes, particularly by households in fuel poverty. The “10% definition” of fuel poverty, that a household is fuel poor if it needs to spend more than 10% of its income to maintain an adequate level of heating, was first established by Brenda in her book entitled Fuel Poverty, first published in In November 2007, she wrote Home Truths: a low-carbon strategy to reduce UK housing emissions by 80% by 2050, for Friends of the Earth and the Co-op Bank, and she published her second book, Fixing Fuel Poverty - challenges and solutions, with Earthscan, in early Brenda’s enthusiasm and support for the carbon saving and fuel poverty agenda is second to none and her understanding and forward thinking is an inspirational to all. Other Nominees: Colin Anderson, David Colbourne and Janet Rudge Lifetime Achievement Award Dr Brenda Boardman MBE