A £40m fund has been opened for community interest companies, co-ops and charities delivering energy related projects that benefit people affected by soaring power costs in England, Scotland and Wales.
The core priority of the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme, which distributes funds, paid by companies who may have breached Ofgem rules, is to help people who are most at risk from cold homes and high energy bills. It is not currently designed to support energy saving improvements or energy generation technology in individual community buildings and facilities.
Although its Main and Small Funds are only open to charities. its Innovation and Carbon Emissions Reduction funds are applicable to the co-op sector.
With the Innovation Fund, up to 15% of Energy Redress funds can support the development of innovative products and services related to energy that have a realistic prospect of delivering benefits to existing and/or future energy consumers and that help to reduce the environmental impact of energy use.
Projects seeking support through the Innovation Funding Stream should involve:
- testing or trialling the roll-out of products or services that are ready to implement but not yet accessible to energy consumers or certain groups of energy consumers
- conducting research or analysis into the development of products or services not yet accessible to energy consumers or certain groups of energy consumers.
The Carbon Emissions Reduction Fund uses up to 15% of Energy Redress funds to support energy-related activities aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from energy use. These projects must focus on energy generation, distribution or energy use.
Projects seeking support through this funding stream must demonstrate
- measurable and lasting reductions in the carbon intensity of energy end use and accelerate the transition to Net Zero CO2
- have a realistic prospect of delivering broadly replicable benefits to existing and/or future energy consumers.
More informationn more about the Scheme is available here, with the application guidance notes are here, and find out how to apply here.
