National Energy Action – NEA – the national energy efficiency charity, was a founder member of Warm Zones Ltd. when the company was established in 2000 to operate the five warm zone area pilots.
Warm Zones Ltd is now a wholly owned subsidiary of NEA and is operated as a not-for-profit, social enterprise. NEA is delighted to be developing and delivering the warm zones model as part of the charity’s commitment to assist with the delivery of the government’s fuel poverty eradication objective.
The warm zones concept is a simple one – a proactive approach involving the systematic assessment of the energy efficiency and fuel poverty status of all the households in the warm zone area and the coordinated delivery of the necessary energy efficiency improvements and related services.
This proactive approach is particularly effective at targeting the most vulnerable households – those who do not normally apply for the assistance available.
In addition to assisting local authorities to deliver affordable warmth to their low-income and other vulnerable residents, a warm zone can deliver a range of other benefits to authorities. These include:
- A zone can improve the take up of energy efficiency measures generally through their “able to pay” schemes, delivering wider sustainability and environmental objectives
- The benefit take up work increases the incomes of successful claimants by an average of £1,500 p.a. which in addition to addressing fuel poverty, provides wider social and economic benefits for both the individual households and their communities
- The Zone will provide the authority with a comprehensive energy efficiency data base which can assist with the production of their Home Energy Conservation Act report and provide opportunities to target other energy efficiency and related schemes
- A Zone will also lever significant additional funding into the area including Warm Front, the energy supply companies energy efficiency commitment funding and other sources such as European funding. The pilot zones have increased the level of energy efficiency activity by a factor of 3 on average above “business as usual”
- The zone can also increase local employment both in the zone directly and in insulation and heating installers who deliver the improvement work
NEA is committed to further developing warm zones and with the help of local authorities and other key partners can roll them out to more areas ensuring that affordable warmth is provided to more low-income and other vulnerable households.
William Gillis
Chief Executive, NEA