09/05/2014 Reduce Energy use And Change Habits REACH Contract N° IEE/13/504/SI /03/ /02/2017

09/05/2014 The aim of REACH is to contribute to fuel poverty abatement at practical and structural level. Main expected results: overview of fuel poverty situation in 4 countries 5 workshops for local actors, 5 trainings for teachers and 10 trainings for energy advisors, resulting in 20 engaged local actors, 20 trained teachers and 250 trained energy advisors 1600 visits of fuel poor households, resulting in savings of about 1280 t CO2, 768 toe of energy and EUR 4 national and EU level policy recommendations presented to decision-makers, resulting in 160 decision-makers engaged in tackling fuel poverty action presented to about people across EU Partners and countries: Focus Association for Sustainable Development, Slovenia Energy Agency of Plovdiv (EAP), Bulgaria Society for sustainable development design (DOOR), Croatia Macedonian Centre for Energy Efficiency (MACEF), Macedonia Project summary

09/05/2014 Project background About 1 in 4 of EU citizens is estimated to be fuel poor Situation is even more severe in the Eastern European Member States, where up to 30 % or even more households are struggling with fuel poverty Fuel poverty mostly affects low-income households, whose economic disadvantage is often matched with poor energy efficiency of their homes and linked to poor health Fuel poverty is not perceived as a problem and is hence not being defined and monitored Reliable data for monitoring the problem is largely missing in the countries, covered by REACH Existing measures for energy efficiency are not designed to target fuel poor households and hence they often fail to provide support for fuel poor households There is serious lack of communication among the energy, social and environmental actors, who should be cooperating closely to address fuel poverty Structural approach to the problem is lacking (fuel poverty tailored policies and measures) Fuel poor households are unaware of practical steps to reduce their energy use (and bills)

09/05/2014 Objectives and main steps The aim of REACH is to contribute to fuel poverty abatement at practical and structural level. This aim translates into twofold overall objective of the action, which is a) to empower fuel poor households to take actions to save energy and change their habits, and b) to establish fuel poverty as an issue that demands structural solutions at local, national and EU level. Main steps to reaching the objectives: Compiling data and analyzing fuel poverty situation in 4 countries, covered by REACH, in order to form definition(s) of fuel poverty and policy recommendations Connecting local actors to tackle fuel poverty in 5 pilot areas through joint communication towards fuel poor households Empowering 1600 households to reduce their energy and water use, hence reducing their energy use by averagely 10% and cutting their CO2 emissions by 200 kg/year on average Engaging 160 decision-makers in tackling fuel poverty as an issue that demands structural solutions, providing them with recommendations for addressing the problem and creating a platform for concerted formulation of structural solutions at national and EU level

09/05/2014 Expected impacts Key outputs overview of fuel poverty for 5 local situations and 4 countries 3 trainings for teachers and energy advisors in each pilot area promotion campaign in 5 pilot areas for household visits 1600 visits with tailor-made reports and advice 4 sets of national policy recommendations and EU level policy recommendations advocacy work at national and EU level report on evaluation of visits and advocacy work project dissemination tools, such as website, video clip, presentation and leaflet Key impacts about 65 representatives of partners and local actors familiar with fuel poverty challenges at international and national level and in each pilot area networks established between at least 5 local actors in each pilot area 34 persons (partners and teachers) trained to train energy advisers and 250 trained energy advisors 1600 households empowered to reduce their energy use and change their habits through 3200 hours of energy audits and 3200 hours of energy advising 4800 installed energy and water saving devices, resulting in average 10% reduction of energy use and 200 kg/year emissions of CO2 less per visited household 160 decision-makers familiar with fuel poverty challenges and engaged in resolving them available evaluation of the impacts of household visits and advocacy work about people across EU familiar with REACH

09/05/2014 Partners and contacts Focus Association for Sustainable Development Lidija Živčič, EAP – Energy Agency of Plovdiv Vasil Zlatev, DOOR – Society for Sustainable Development Design Slavica Robič, MACEF - Macedonian Center for Energy Efficiency Žarko Ilievski,