Household Energy Service

Household Energy Service (HES) is a community-based energy service company providing independent energy advice to help households reduce carbon emissions and save money on fuel bills. HES operate in Welsh and English towns and valleys around Bishop's Castle and Newtown and train volunteers from the area to carry out free energy surveys.

Lightfoot Enterprises Community Interest Company (CIC) is responsible for overseeing the business plan designed to take the project forward, and the HES management team remain responsible for delivery. The team from the BGC year has changed slightly with the departure of two core members of staff. One of these positions has not yet been filled and this staff turnover has somewhat disrupted progress, with some plans - such as community harvested firewood, providing business energy services, and deployment of a local ‘handyperson’ to fix draughts and help clear lofts - not as far along as they had hoped. A new role has been created to run and manage the service though, and HES has made steps towards becoming a more professional operation. It has, however, found limited business support available to the community sector and has largely had to find support through its own contacts.

HES still trains and works with over 50 voluntary energy assessors who deliver energy surveys, and has a team of qualified energy officers to produce reports, recommendations and provide financial and technical advice. Requirements for the Green Deal will have implications for volunteers in the future, as any installations benefitting from the Green Deal will have to be recommended in an assessment by an accredited adviser.

HES works with same communities as in the BGC year: Bishop’s Castle and Clun; Knighton; Presteigne; Montgomery; and Newtown. 1500 households have taken part in HES in total and about one in four households have taken part in Bishop’s Castle. In the last year they have also formalised the partnership with Kington, while the model is being taken up as a separate operation in Lancaster in the North West. Lightfoot Enterprises CIC have merged with the Cwm Harry Land Trust, another social enterprise operating in the waste sphere. There is to be little difference in how HES operates though (as both organisations will carry on with what they are doing) but it is hoped they will each have better purchasing power and be able to access to each other’s participants.

‘Farm Carbon’ has moved from being a pilot to being a free service available to farmers and landowners within the Shropshire Hills and is supported by the Shropshire Hills AONB LEADER Programme. The service aims to help farmers start planning for a lower carbon future, and uses the Carbon Accounting for Land Managers (CALM) calculator to produce a report on carbon and GHG flows on the farm, along with recommendations and advice.

HES has received funding from the BGC prize, local funds, and was awarded European funding for Farm Carbon. It has, however, had difficulty securing longer term funding as it is not readily available from local funds, and HES sees itself as too small to be awarded larger national funds. Currently about 20% of income is earned through members’ donations and HES aim to increase this figure significantly through charging for services (which are currently free) and selling carbon savings to energy companies. HES are continuing to identify ways of diversifying the service and are considering different models of taking the service forward to make the organisation ‘investment ready’.