Details of any meetings held and/or forthcoming:
The last ALEO East meeting was held in Bishop’s Stortford on 14th March 2018. Secretariat compiling minutes, which will be loaded onto our webpage once done.
Next meeting will be in Autumn 2018, details TBC.
Details of any current projects:
a.One update received 8.2.18 for this round:
Focussing on Fuel Poverty, we are doing several things usually within programmes that are available to everyone but which target poorer people specially.
1.Switching. We encourage switching primarily through our energy scheme in partnership with OVO – Southend Energy. Our view is that it’s a success if a householder switches regardless of whether they join Southend Energy or not so long as they review their tariffs. We know that we have engaged with 8% of the population in 2 years but we also know that others have switched to other companies especially in the last year when we were less competitive.
2.Local Energy Advice Programme. We joined LEAP in late last year and so far have around 200 referrals and so far 118 home visits. Energy savings to date are averaging £246 per home visit and Income Maximisation is averaging £597 per home visit but is actually concentrated into fewer households who get much more each.
3.We are working on a new programme to promote solar PV, storage and grid rebalancing at the domestic level which we plan to launch as soon as possible after the Local Elections. We think that most households can generate around 20% net electricity savings if contracts are constructed right just from solar and storage. If grid rebalancing is added (when) around and estimated 30% extra savings will be available.
Happy to come and share these initiatives and if anyone wants to adopt our programmes we are happy to work with them
Regards
Jeremy Martin
Energy and Sustainability Manager
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
Statistics:Posted by ALEO Admin — Mon May 28, 2018 9:46 pm
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Details of any meetings held and/or forthcoming:
Last meeting 22nd Nov 2017.
Date of next meeting to be confirmed; likely to be in Spring 2018.
Details of any current projects:
Norwich City Council is seeking to establish a uniquely branded local domestic energy supply vehicle to reduce electricity and gas fuel bills for residents and to enable it to deliver innovative energy services in the future.
The Energy White Label will have the intention of benefitting citizens and businesses financially and pursuing broader environmental objectives such as the take up of renewable energy.
Watford Borough Council has published a SOI, with an insulation referral scheme being delivered through a Hertfordshire wide scheme led by the County Council partnering with the 10 Districts.
Suffolk’s Local Authorities are now able to provide fully funded central heating systems to 514 fuel poor households across the county over the next three years. Working together as the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership they have been successful in securing funding from the first round of the Warm Homes Fund for a project worth £4.3 million.
The project is being managed by the County Council, administered by Suffolk Warm Homes Healthy People based at Suffolk Coastal District Council and supported with further funding from Babergh, Mid-Suffolk, Forest Heath and Waveney District Councils plus Ipswich and St Edmundsbury Borough Councils.
Alongside the first-time heating system, households will also be able to benefit from new insulation measures as well as grants from the Suffolk Community Foundation’s ‘Surviving Winter Appeal’ where eligible.
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Details of any meetings held and/or forthcoming:
HECA East held its last meeting on 22 March 2017.
It is confirmed that David Walton (Suffolk County Council) has volunteered to undertake the role of ALEO East Chairman for a two-year period. Paul Hinsley, the current Chair, will continue as vice Chair if there are no nominations from members.
The next meeting is scheduled for 22 November 2017, which will be our AGM.
Project updates and regional update
West Suffolk:
The first year anniversary of our ownership of our 12MW solar farm is this month. The site is performing well and generating the predicted output for a site of this size.
We have completed the installation of seven roof-mounted PV installs in Q1 of 17/18 with a total installed capacity of 175kWp. Each installation has a PPA agreement between the council and the building owner/leaseholder
Surprising, we have only received one phone call since the Grenfell fire from home owners who have benefited from government supported EWI in West Suffolk.
Suffolk's LA have completed the ECO Flexible Eligibility Statement of Intent, allowing us to work with the insulation industry to continue energy efficiency improvements within the county.
Epping Forest District Council:
We are planning to send out letters to all households in the District who have an EPC certificate of F or G, in advance of The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015, which will come into effect from April 2018. We are not 100% certain if the households on the EPC data information are rented or owned, so we are treading a bit carefully at this stage and thinking of all the complications which could arise if we start sending out loads of letters which may not be to the right people!
We are also looking into training for our housing staff regarding Smart Meters so that they can speak to residents knowledgeably.
Suffolk County Council:
ECO Flexible Eligibility:
All of Suffolk’s LAs, working together as part of the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership, have agreed a jointly-worded Statement of Intent and eligibility criteria. Suffolk's Local Authorities wish to utilise Flexible Eligibility to its fullest to help achieve the Partnership’s carbon reduction aims alongside improving the health and wellbeing of their residents. Referrals may come from Suffolk’s Warm Homes Healthy People (WHHP) scheme which has an established referral mechanism for fuel poor households across Suffolk. Referrals come in from the health and social care sectors, voluntary sector and other agencies. Suffolk’s WHHP will provide the central administration and management of ECO flexible eligibility for Suffolk.
The Suffolk Energy Action Energy Efficiency Services Framework is now in place. It consists of five lots:
Lot 1 – Insulation Measures
Lot 2 - Heating and Hot Water Systems
Lot 3 - Renewable Energy Systems
Lot 4 - Park Homes
Lot 5 - Green Deal Assessments
Mini-competitions have either been run or will be run for the above lots; successful bidders will install under the SEA scheme in their allotted areas.
DECC First Time Central Heating Fund:
This has now concluded. £1.6m was secured to deliver up to 274 first time central heating installs to households living in fuel poverty - A total of 214 installations were completed under this scheme, split between gas and oil fired systems with a small number of air source heat pumps. The most commonly replaced heating source were storage heaters, followed by peak electricity, solid fuel and a small number of gas fired room heaters. In total, 277 measures were installed. Of the 214 installations 140 were rural and 74 urban. In terms of energy efficiency improvements, the average EPC prior to installation was 43.2 with post installation being 59.6.
SEA campaign Loft and Cavity Walls 2015-2017:
Working with Aran Services under the Suffolk Energy Action branding, over the past two winters, 951 jobs have been completed to date. There have been 455 loft insulations, 263 for cavity walls, and 233 combined measures.
Future funding:
Funding for domestic energy efficiency projects is actively being sought but currently there appears to be a lack of other opportunities.
Recoup: (One of our Commercial members)
Recoup are about to release a new stand-alone horizontal WWHRS system designed to slide directly under a standard bath or a walk-in shower tray. We are very excited for this product in the residential retrofit and new-build apartment and social housing markets, as it offers a combination of price point, efficiency and ease of installation that has not previously been possible. We are also working with Ofgem with a view to listing this technology within the ECO scheme as a new measure that can be available to ECO-suppliers. This then has the potential to have a significant effect on the cost of hot water for customers in fuel poor homes.
Following our introduction of the product (the Recoup Easyfit+ HE) at CIH 2017 in Manchester last month (and our attendance of the NEA meeting in London also), we have a number of interested developer and social housing providers who have expressed a significant interest in assessing the potential effect of this product as a retrofit/upgrade solution.
We’ve now completed the 3rd party efficiency testing with KIWA, which will be used by BRE to form the product SAP listing (certificates pending). The headline efficiencies are as follows: 47.6% efficiency @ 5.2 l/min; 46.4% efficiency @ 9.2 l/min flow rate.
We have not finalised costing as yet, but the expectation is that it would have a trade list price of c. £425-450 +VAT (inc del.), which is around 40-50% of the price of the current WWHRS integrated tray units (for reference the Tray+DSS-S2 units are 45.8% efficient @9.2l/min).
Below is a preliminary images for reference:
The dimensions are listed below, and the unit (including elevation at one end to provide fall) only requires 85mm clearance.
L = 1170mm (1270mm inc connections)
W = 350mm
H – 65mm (20mm elevation required via adjustable feet, provided)
We anticipate that the Easyfit+ HE will be fully SAP-listed and WRAS certified by the end of July and available from UK stock August/September 2017.
Colchester Borough Council
There are a number of large scale projects progressing at Colchester that include:
- NE Essex Garden Communities
- Northern Gateway – Heat Networks (Jan will update in more detail at the CORE meeting)
General update:
Phase 1 of the new Local Authority Carbon Management Plan is completed and is expected to make an annual saving of 450 tonnes of CO2 (and an estimated annual 100k financial saving)
The Councils GHG report is ready to publish for 2016/17 and suggests CBC has achieved a 55% carbon reduction since 2008 (baseline year)
HECA monitoring process is being updated
CBC held ‘Green Office Week’ in May 2017 for all staff inclusive of those working remotely, this included 25 activities to help staff think about their own impact and working more efficiently.
New project working with 25-30 charity/community groups working on environmental projects to help deliver the Councils Environmental Sustainability Strategy & look at developing a large scale funding application to develop the groups shared resources.
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For this update I want to focus upon the excellent work being undertaken in three of our areas:
Norwich City Council
Norwich City Council have been working hard to reduce fuel poverty and excess winter deaths (EWDs) since 2012/13. In Norwich we believe that 10% of households are experiencing fuel poverty. That equates to a staggering 6,523 households. However, progress is being made. The graph below shows our continual improvement addressing this issue. There is also a reduction in EWDs over the same period.
This winter Norwich City Council will be working with British Gas to promote fully funded replacement boilers via ECO grants to the vulnerable and fuel poor worth over £500,000 as well as our usual promotions with Aran for loft and cavity wall insulation. This work is branded under the Cosy City banner. http://www.cosycity.co.uk
In addition, to foster better working between agencies and the 3rd sector, Norwich City Council will be working to deliver the council's 3rd Warm and Well event, called Winter Wellbeing. This event has grown to be Norfolk’s premier pre-winter networking event.
Peterborough – Green Energy Switch:
Green Energy Switch have worked in partnership with Peterborough Energy to promote and increase awareness of a locally owned, not-for-profit low-cost energy alternative. Peterborough Energy, which is supplied by OVO Energy but managed and administered by Peterborough City Council, aims to reduce fuel poverty amongst Peterborough residents in light of the ever-increasing price of tariffs by the Big Six suppliers. Of the 4,800 customers that have switched to Peterborough Energy so far, an average of £248 has been saved per annum.
At the heart of this impressive growth are the home visits conducted by Green Energy Switch’s Home Visits Team. The Team visit residents in every corner of the city, providing residents with simple and achievable energy conservation advice, expertise on their energy bills and the opportunity to make the considerable savings with Peterborough Energy. In addition, all switchers receive a free energy saving pack with items to enable a low energy lifestyle, are entered into a monthly prize draw for shopping vouchers and are also encouraged to refer friends and family with the chance to collect Amazon Vouchers.
These home visits have been warmly received by residents and have enabled the Peterborough Energy brand to develop from strength to strength and integrate itself as a friendly and inexpensive alternative across the city.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council:
St Edmundsbury Borough Council has a number of park home sites and has long recognised the clear need for the retrofit of these prefabricated structures, given the higher than average risk of fuel poverty amongst park home residents. In 2015, a successful bid was submitted to National Grid’s Energy Innovation Fund to fund energy efficiency improvements at Shepherds Grove Park in Stanton, Suffolk.
In total, £100,000 was secured to fund new gas central heating systems and external wall insulation (EWI). National Grid also installed new gas connections to 14 homes where the residents were over the age of 70. In addition, match funding was provided by St Edmundsbury Borough Council and the county-wide Warm Homes Healthy People project.
Shepherds Grove Park was selected due to the poor standard of existing insulation and the high level of fuel poverty among residents, all of whom are over 55 years old. Many are retired and spend considerable periods of time at home, so being able to maintain a warm and affordable property is essential.
Park homes have traditional missed out on nationally mandated insulation programmes due to their classification as temporary accommodation. A prerequisite for our installer partner Cornerstone (East Anglia) Limited was being able to secure a 25 year installation warranty for the EWI, as this has not previously been possible.
The properties insulated comprised a number of different park homes styles in various states of repair, with works including all necessary enabling, adaptation and remedial works to prepare the properties for the Alumasc Swisstherm external wall insulation system. Bespoke aluminium powder coated extended window sills were fitted to compensate for the additional wall thickness, with flashing details also installed under the verge of the roof where required.
The installer Cornerstone appointed an experienced Site Manager and a Resident Liaison Officer, who liaised with the resident Site Manager on a daily basis under the supervision of the Council, ensuring excellent levels of resident satisfaction with the end to end process.
The previously poorly insulated walls achieved a post-installation U-Value of 0.29 W/m2K after the application of insulation. Residents were able to choose from a wide range of finish colours, with the final decorative silicone render coat rejuvenating the properties and providing long-term protection, mitigating the need for future repainting of the external surface.
The measures were installed between December 2015 and February 2016. In total, 24 properties benefitted from external wall insulation, with ten of these also receiving new gas central heating systems. The properties with existing heating systems, and therefore only receiving EWI, are expected to enjoy lifetime carbon savings of 25 tonnes and energy bill reductions of at least £237 per year. Park homes receiving both measures are expected to benefit from lifetime carbon savings of 64 tonnes and energy bill reductions of £402 per year.
Residents have reported a significant improvement in comfort levels in their properties, with many commenting that their thermostat has been turned down a few degrees and that their home remains warmer longer once the heating is turned off. Many residents have been lifted out of fuel poverty by the scheme, which has been very well received and sets an excellent template for future park home retrofit in the region.
Details of any other events held and/or forthcoming:
ALEO East’s next meeting is due in mid-November.
Statistics:Posted by ALEO Admin — Thu Oct 20, 2016 4:45 pm
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Details of any meetings held and/or forthcoming:
HECA East (ALEO East) held its AGM on 13th April 2016, in partnership with NEA. Our next meeting which will be held in Summer 2016, again in conjunction with NEA.
Key points arising were:
- No member volunteered for the post of Chair or Vice Chair; therefore Paul Hinsley (current Chair) stated that he would fill the position until the next meeting.
- Those attending members with voting rights agreed 12 – 2 to adopt the ALEO East ‘branding’, although there was concern of focussing on ‘energy officers’. Members were informed that the agenda and scope is set through interaction and input by themselves, ensuring the focus remains bespoke to their needs regardless of the name of the group.
- Meetings will be held at differing geographical locations within the Eastern area in order to maximise attendance.
Fenland District Council– is targeting Solid wall insulation to 1000 properties 800 from the rental sector.
Epping Forest District Council – using RHI funding to upgrade housing stock.
Brentwood Borough Council – although they have no budget or allocated time they are undertaking mail drops with Aran services offering energy improvements. Participating in the Essex County Council (ECC) Big Community Energy Switch.
Broadland District Council – working with Norwich Council to install heating and insulation improvements to 440 homes.
Norwich Council – producing an affordable warmth strategy and installing heating upgrades.
Braintree and Uttlesford District Councils – installed solar PV on council properties (2 leisure centres , Councils main building and 2 other Community buildings). Taken a proactive approach to promoting ECC Big Community Energy Switch and as a result have received £7000 referral fee. Working with Aran services to install energy improvements and setting up a handyman service. Continuing to work with CAB providing energy advice to households funded by the British Gas Warm Home fund. CAB are targeting those in fuel poverty providing enegy switch advice and insulation measures. Uttlesford are installing 1600 PV Solar panel installations on 1600 council homes.
Maldon District Council – Part of ECC Big Community Energy Switch. Mail out in partnership with Aran Services has just finished.
East Cambridgeshire District Council – developing Action on Energy partnership with Green Deal Funding.
St Edmundsbury Borough Council – Boiler replacement, target of 100 funded by NEA Health Improvement Fund
Aran Services – has funding available for various heating installations
Scottish Power – has some ECO funding available for low cost solutions such as cavity wall and loft insulation which ends in Mach 2017. Warm Home Discount linked projects nationally providing remote access heating controls.
Essex County Council – Managed an Energy Switching Scheme with iChoosr for residents of Essex, with support of all Districts and Boroughs. The total average saving for all participating residents was approx. £929’000.
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This follows the change of the Carbon Action Network's national identity to the Association of Local Energy Officers, on 1 February 2016.
For more information, see:
viewtopic.php?f=86&t=744
Statistics:Posted by ALEO Admin — Tue Apr 19, 2016 3:51 pm
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The minutes will also be available to download soon.
Statistics:Posted by ALEO Admin — Tue Oct 27, 2015 2:13 pm
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An update on the sponsorship and secretariat was given. Aran Services kindly sponsored the meeting. Through the support of our sponsors we aimed to take the HECA network forward:
- Growing the membership
- Improving the meeting programme
- Improving the network especially sharing of information and improving the knowledge transfer between members
Members' knowledge exchange
Issues covered:
- Cavity wall problems and CIGA-backed guarantees
- Landlord and tenant energy efficiency problems
- Engagement with the owner occupiers
- Engaging with the health professionals to progress improvements to cold homes
- Funding – health on prescription. Gentoo evaluation on prescription report to be published in April
- Warm Homes Healthy People projects
- Age UK study into Health and Wellbeing strategies and fuel poverty
- Solar pv on social housing
Members reported that the following projects were being undertaken by their Authorities in the coming year:
- Park Homes project part funded by National Grid
- Warm Homes Healthy People
- Green Deal Communities projects
- Private sector stock condition survey
- Solar PV on public realm buildings
- Heat Networks feasibility
- Big Energy Switch
The next joint meeting with NEA is to be held on 22nd October, The CAN Chair has been invited to give an update to HECA East members as to the proposals and planned direction of CAN in the future.
Sponsorship secured
HECA East is extremely grateful to Aran Services Limited for agreeing to sponsor the group for the coming year. This has enabled the services of a secretariat to be secured and will ensure the group can meet its objectives of remaining vibrant and relevant, but - most importantly of all – supporting our membership in tackling fuel poverty and energy efficiency within the Eastern area.
- M P Hinsley, Chair, HECA East
Statistics:Posted by ALEO Admin — Wed Oct 14, 2015 12:55 pm
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This meeting is sponsored by Aran Services (http://www.aranservices.co.uk) and will include an update from en-form, who are now providing the HECA East Secretariat, as well as presentations by Knauf and Aran Services. This will be followed by the Members Knowledge Exchange with discussions on the Carbon Action Network, Green Deal/ECO, the future of renewables, CRC and HECA reporting.
The meeting will be followed by the NEA Eastern Fuel Poverty Forum.
The full agenda is available to download from
http://www.can.uk.net/east/meetings/ind ... 0608121638
Statistics:Posted by ALEO Admin — Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:05 am
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Position: HECA East Chair
Details of any meetings held and/or forthcoming:
HECA East’s next meeting will be held on 17 June 2014
Working title : “Vulnerable households, energy supply and extreme weather - What happens when the lights go out.”
Provisional programme:
-The role of emergency planning – Andy Osman, Head of Emergency Planning
-The National Grid response – National Grid speaker
-The Distribution Network Operator response – UK Power Networks speaker
-A housing provider perspective – Amanda Ashley-Smith, Estuary Housing
20 minutes per speaker. Break after UKPN. Then Ashley followed by a workshop on how we can improve the communications between professionals.
Target audience:
Energy efficiency Officers
Housing Officers
Sustainability Officers
Social Workers
Target sectors:
Public authorities
Registered housing providers
Geography:
East of England covering Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Herts, Beds, Unitaries in locality.
Details of any other events held and/or forthcoming:
- Colchester Green Open Homes throughout May
- Organising ‘Healthy Homes, Healthy People’ event to be held in Colchester, at the Western Homes Stadium on 9th October 14 – need 3 x sponsors please see attached
- Colchester looking at Power Networks funding for new project with partner En-form (Colchester based Environmental Charity)
- Launch of Colchester’s next Big Community Switch will be on the 15th April – 9th June 14
Suffolk Area:
Warm Homes Healthy People- Continuing project for third year, despite no formal funding stream from the Department of Health. We have sourced funding from a variety of streams, including engaging with the newly formed Public Health Suffolk.
The project employs a full time project officer and a Health Liaison Officer, who is developing links and referrals from all areas of the health service. During this winter the project has visited 328 homes, assisted 275 homes with fuels payments totalling £28k, and identified and implemented hundreds of energy efficiency upgrades, including lofts, cavities, EWI and boilers.
Suffolk Energy Action- Following a local government tendering exercise, Suffolk selected an ECO partner and a Green Deal partner in December 2013 to promote and deliver both programmes. Promotional materials were inserted in every council tax bill across the county and Climate Energy surveyors are now busy visiting homes. To date contact has been made with over 500 homes interested in energy efficiency upgrades.
DECC Community Energy Fund- Suffolk has just been awarded £5.5 million from DECC to deliver green deal plans through a street by street approach and by working with private sector landlords. The award was only confirmed last week so we are now in the process of designing the delivery mechanism.
Essex Area:
Community Energy Switch – A successful Community switching auction was held for residents throughout Essex. Over 1260 accepted cheaper quotes provided by iChoosr. A key element of the scheme has been the promotion of energy saving and efficiency measures.
Colchester based Community Energy project in early stages of discussion but looking to help with viability study for this over the coming months.
Rapid charger installation on strategic network near Colchester A12 (part of the ECC led initiative)
Colchester BC are hoping to get Housing Stock survey updated so we can identify focus project areas.
Any other comments, e.g. issues or barriers:
A consolidated response on behalf of all HECA East members has been submitted to DECC on the ECO Consultation.
Statistics:Posted by ALEO Admin — Thu Apr 17, 2014 11:00 am
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