+Impact - Local Community Energy Tariff | Energy Poverty Advisory Hub

Local/regional project

By switching to a green tariff, an average household consuming 3000 kWh per year can achieve carbon savings of around 300 kg per year. Customers also save money and help support local community energy work. Another advantage of local energy schemes is that the funds are spent and reinvested in the local economy. This can have positive, synergetic effects on local employment and infrastructure. To achieve the goal, cooperation with local organisations and a comprehensive communication strategy is needed.

Therefore, ESC cooperated with Our Power, a non-profit energy provider aiming to offer fair, clean energy to the United Kingdom energy market. Our Power launched a competitively priced, green tariff (“+IMPACT”) that helped maintain the lowest prices for customers experiencing or at risk of energy poverty. +IMPACT’s electricity was green and, where possible, generated from community-owned energy schemes and renewable sources in the United Kingdom.

Training sessions for staff working directly with the residents were central, so the staff could explain and promote the tariff well. Outreach activites such as leaflets, web campaigns, the use of an electric “energy van” and a home page were also implemented in the neighbourhoods to reach the target group. Challenges and solutions Most citizens are not confident in their knowledge of the energy and tariff systems. Thus, significant marketing resources need to be invested to promote a new, green tariff to a large quantity of citizens. Face-to-face contact with members of the local community at energy desks and community centre events is essential to develop trust and a better understanding of the benefits of this new way of working in the energy market.

Sadly "Our Power", the first community benefit cooperative to become an energy supplier, ceased trading in 2020, but the Energy Local scheme pioneered by ESC in Hastings has been adopted by Octopus Energy and Younity. ESC are continuing the process to encourage residents to join "energy clubs" which will allow them to share energy for solar and benefit from lower tariffs from locally generated electricity owned by community energy co-operatives.

The partners of the project were: the local energy agency Energise Sussex Coast (ESC) and benefited the low-income population. The Local Community Energy Tariff implemented in Hastings were part of the collection of best practices made over three years by the partners of the Interreg NWE funded project „Climate Active Neighbourhoods“. The multi-national consortium based in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK has closely collaborated on methods and solutions for realising a low carbon future, increased energy efficiency and a socially just energy transition on the neighbourhood level.

During the initial phase of the project (2016-2020), CAN focused on neighbourhoods in need of renovation in municipalities of different sizes in Northwest Europe. Innovative activation approaches for the expansion of energy retrofits in neighbourhoods have been implemented by the project partners (12 in total).