It has now been a year since we changed all plans to run our brand new Community Energy Ambassadors project, funded by Northern Gas Networks. We had originally planned to visit different parts of the north of England to train representatives of community groups and voluntary organisations in supporting others to reduce their energy costs. Covid then hit and government restrictions meant we weren’t going anywhere.
As with many organisations, we rapidly learnt how to use Zoom, revised our course to be run online, booked some dates and started publicising the course. To our great delight, people started booking on with organisations represented from Cumbria, Leeds, South Tyneside, South Shields and North Yorkshire.
We had our first course and some great feedback:
“It was a very friendly and enjoyable course. It was one of the first times I had used zoom and I think you both did a very good job and it worked well. It saves time on travelling and can be done from anywhere. It was good to meet people from all over the north. It was informative and very well put together with the screen sharing of slides and websites particularly useful. Well done”
We have since run 11 courses, trained 125 individuals from 91 organisations across Yorkshire, the Northeast and Cumbria.
Together our new Energy Ambassadors have reached an average of 10 other people each with energy information, whether its friends, family or clients they support.
We have seen total cost savings of £95,425, including:
- £19,165 by switching energy supplier
- £36,260 through 259 Warm Home Discount applications
- £40,000 of ECO funding accessed for 6 x first time central heating systems, solid wall and floor insulation
We have also worked together to run campaigns around the Warm Home Discount and Priority Services Register.
Next course dates
If you’re from an organisation in Yorkshire, the Northeast or Cumbria, then our course is free. It is next running on the following dates: