More than one in ten households in North Devon are in fuel poverty, with many off the gas grid and relying on electric night storage heating.

Cold and damp housing conditions impact on health and wellbeing. As well as causing or exacerbating serious physical health conditions such as strokes, heart attacks and asthma, they can contribute to other issues such as poor mental health, stress.

Connecting Homes for Health pilot project combined funding to install free gas connections and central heating systems in over 100 properties in the North East of England whose residents were on low incomes and at risk of cold-related ill health.

In a modern world, water is recognised as a human right.  It is understood to be essential to life and yet some are so concerned about the cost of it that they actively decide not to use the water they vitally need and find themselves falling into debt or self-rationing their water use. These families may also be making impossible choices between heating and eating, at the same time as restricting bathing to once a week, all sharing the same bath water, because the cost of their water, and the cost of heating it, is just too high.

The Connecting Homes for Health pilot project was delivered by fuel poverty charity NEA, Northern Gas Networks and YES Energy Solutions. In what’s believed to be an industry first, it combined funding from the Fuel Poor Network Extension Scheme and Warm Home Discount Industry Initiatives to install free gas connections and central heating systems in over 100 properties in the North East of England whose residents were on low incomes and at risk of cold-related ill health. Residents also benefited from support and energy advice on how to use their new systems effectively, improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel bills.

Decarbonising the UK economy to meet the Government’s world-leading Net Zero greenhouse gas commitment by 2050, represents both an unprecedented challenge and an unrivalled opportunity for innovation and investment. The imperative of net zero emissions, as attested by the latest science and now set out in legislation, will require the continued transition of the power sector and also the rapid decarbonisation of manufacturing, transport, agriculture and buildings.

NEA worked with Macmillan Cancer Support to identify vulnerable households at risk of fuel poverty, living in a cold home and experiencing ill health. The fund supported the provision of energy efficiency and heating measures to householders identified as ‘in need’.

The Health and Innovation Programme was a £26.2 million programme to bring affordable warmth to fuel poor and vulnerable households in England, Scotland and Wales. The programme launched in April 2015 and has delivered energy efficiency advice and measures to over 9000 households.

The Technical Innovation Fund has been groundbreaking because it enabled us to get an insight into how many new technologies can help households in vulnerable situations to reduce their energy bills and improve the comfort of their homes.