Energy Know How and Making Our Money Go Further came together to provide some training into our services to our RotherFed volunteers. We ran two remote training sessions on the 7th February 2022. We had over 20 people attend the sessions to give them a small introduction into Energy Know How and some tips when looking out for referrals when speaking with the residents of Rotherham.
We discussed community groups we have worked with already and groups that would be interested in what we had to say, as well as offering the attendees their own telephone call for some 1-2-1 support around their energy usage and bills. There was an open discussion around the current energy market and we explained what has been happening across the energy network with providers going into administration.
Energy Know How can support anyone in Rotherham with any of the following:
- Give hints and tips about using energy more efficiently without putting health at risk.
- Ensure that householders know about schemes that can help them with their bills such as warm home discount.
- Ensure that customers with additional needs know how to be placed on the priority services register including elderly, those with health issues or young children.
- Arrange for minor draught proofing works and LED bulbs to be fitted free of charge through the Green Doctor scheme.
- Encourage switching between energy companies when this becomes appropriate.
We finished both of sessions with a friendly quiz about ‘The Robinsons’, an average family of four who wanted to know how much money they could save by making small behaviour changes in the household. This showed that they could be saving up to £604 a year if they made changes to their usage by doing things like only filling the kettle with what you need and by switching off appliances instead of leaving them on standby.