Electricity North West (ENW) has revealed plans to pay for seven new members of staff at Citizens Advice, including five ‘energy champions’, with a £500,000 fund.
The two-year partnership will start immediately in response to the pandemic and marks the launch of the North West network operator’s ‘Be Winter Ready’ campaign.
Research recently commissioned by ENW found that more than 13 per cent of all households in the region are fuel poor.
The data revealed that 11 local authorities are all above the North West’s fuel poor average, including Manchester (18 per cent), Barrow-in-Furness (15 per cent), Preston (15 per cent) and Blackburn with Darwen (16.5 per cent) with Pendle ranked the highest at more than 18 per cent.
ENW’s partnership with Citizens Advice is expected to help thousands of people over the next two years with free energy efficiency advice and support in managing their bills.
The five new energy champions will proactively contact customers to offer support as well as responding to referrals from the network. Furthermore, the network operator is encouraging people to sign up to its priority services register (PSR).
Jo Crinson, partnership manager at ENW, said: “Winter can be a difficult time, and this one will be more challenging than usual due to the impacts of Covid, and we want to help those who may find it more difficult than others, or just need additional support.
“The service that our key workers provide in operating the network only makes up a small proportion of overall energy bills, but nonetheless we want to make sure we look after our communities this winter, and this partnership will help us do that.”
Andy Brown, chief officer at Citizens Advice Manchester, said: “As the cold weather moves in, we often see an increase in people coming to us for support with staying connected and keeping up with their energy costs; with the coronavirus pandemic forcing people to stay inside more, this support has never been more needed.
“We know that cold homes can have a significant impact on people’s physical and mental wellbeing, and thanks to Electricity North West’s support, thousands more people will be able to stay warm and well throughout this difficult winter and beyond.”