‘Fuel Poor’ funding now available for community gas connection projects Communities and households in fuel poverty and not currently connected to the gas network can now benefit from funding to help them get a gas connection.

Gas regulator Ofgem recently introduced changes which allow Gas Distribution Network Operators (GDNOs) to provide significant levels of funding to carry out ‘fuel poor gas network extension projects’ and one-off fuel poor connections. ‘Fuel Poor’ funding will be available throughout the current Gas Distribution Price Control review period, until 2014.

People who live within an ‘off-gas’ area are more likely to be in fuel poverty than those who are connected to the network as they often need to rely on inefficient and expensive alternatives.

Fuel poor funding can eliminate, or dramatically, reduce the cost of installing new gas mains and services, and help make gas heating available for residents for the first time.

Gas network extension projects are designed to help lift households out of fuel poverty, and reduce the potential of households being in fuel poverty in the future. The installation of a gas service alone will not alleviate fuel poverty, but combining this with the installation of an efficient gas heating system will have a significant impact towards achieving affordable warmth. CES also recommends that standard insulation levels are also achieved as a minimum.

The impact of this work will significantly help reduce fuel poverty, whilst considerably increasing the energy performance of the building, reducing CO2 emissions, and generally creating a more desirable and healthy home to live in.

Northern Gas Networks are the GDNO covering the North East and the majority of Yorkshire and Humber regions.

Community Energy Solutions (CES) is the approved partner for Northern Gas Networks, enquiries from housing professionals should be directed to CES in the first instance. By making CES your first point of contact we will endeavour to obtain the maximum amount of funding available to help the whole community.

How we deliver projects:

• CES will work with partners to help identify and develop feasible projects.
• Once a feasible project has been developed, CES will work with partners to ensure all households in the project area are offered gas and assistance to upgrade heating systems, better insulation levels and provide a benefit check to help bring extra income. CES manages a range of grant streams to enable private households to access this assistance for free or at the lowest cost possible, and for social properties CES can help setup a similar process for social landlords, if required.
• Fuel Poor projects are all about helping a community, to assist in supporting residents. Local community centres are used for public consultation meetings, held at the start of each project to offer face-to-face contact.
• A ready-made project team will help you successfully and quickly deliver the project at timescales to suit your requirements.

A few reminders of what ‘Fuel Poor’ funding is about:

• Fuel Poor funding is designed to help deprived households get access to more affordable warmth and help alleviate fuel poverty now and/or reducing the potential of the household being in fuel poverty in the future.
• It is aimed at households not already connected to the gas mains, either because there are no nearby mains available, or where there are financial barriers in being able to afford to connect.
• Fuel Poor funding is available on a per property basis, so is scalable to ensure feasibility for any sized project.
• Fuel Poor funding is available to existing social and private domestic housing stock where certain eligibility criteria can be met.
• Fuel Poor funding can be used to contribute towards the cost of new mains and/or service connections and as funding is applied off the real cost at source, there is nothing to claim back at a later date; the economics of a fuel poor project typically lead to a zero cost project for the housing manager and/or owner/occupier and is mainly subject to the distance between the required point of use and connection to existing infrastructure.
• There is no requirement for gas to be used or for a meter to be installed immediately, although every effort should be made to switch residents onto using gas appliances as part of the remit to tackle fuel poverty, SAP improvement and CO2 reduction.
• Fuel Poor funding cannot be used for commercial premises or any new build properties.

Case Study
CES in partnership with NGN has successfully completed many fuel poor projects; please see an example of what was the first major project in the UK to take advantage of the Ofgem regulation changes.

• Wortley case study

Contact
CES can assist with community-based fuel poor gas network extension projects, and hopes to soon have a process in place to undertake one-off ‘fuel poor’ connections. To discuss your requirements or find out more please contact the CES office appropriate to you're location/the location of the potential project area:

CES Yorkshire & Humber

CES North East