How do Councils respond to the Energy Bill Tsunami that is coming?

When the Government funded them, I used to manage the South and West Yorkshire Energy Savings Trust Advice Centre. We used to do a lot of easy energy saving advice measures which would have a fairly small impact on bills over an entire year. Now these advice measures, like turning your thermostat down 1 degree and only boiling as much hot water as you need etc, will save more money than they used to. The problem with this advice is that it all looks a bit piecemeal when compared with the cost of living tsunami which is hurtling towards us all. There are going to be people who can make adjustments to their heating systems timers and thermostats that will save them hundreds of pounds but these will be the people who can afford to keep their heating systems running. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people are not going to be in that fortunate position.

 Of course what is needed is a mass deep retrofit programme but that is not going to happen with an absence of political will and even we had that political will it would take years to start making an impact. The Green Party are right to push for nationalisation of the energy companies but that is not in our gift and the path to take where the Government will agree with us is not at all obvious. Locally we need advice that is practical and impactful.

 The sort of advice that makes a big difference is advice which does not require you to heat your home as much as you did before. During the pandemic we urged people to stay apart but in the cost of living crisis we need to urge people to come together.

 Warm Clubs - Shared heated space – promote the idea of neighbourly sharing of heat where people invite neighbours round 1 day a week and reciprocate in a group of 4 or 5. Works best with people who get on obviously. Advice on how to run a Warm Club – communal eating, agree to watch a movie together, board games would be needed.

 Warm Banks – these are growing as a proposition but they need a specification, almost a licence. Is there comfortable seating? Is there entertainment?  Is there food? How do you address the fact that people are different and like different things? Is there advice? Is there a Manager of a Warm Bank to deal with issues (there are always issues when people come together!) We need a network of Warm Banks close to where people live so they don’t have to pay for travel

 Warm the person more and the house less – providing Oodies – All over blanket clothing. Providing heated gilets where electric heated elements help keep people cosy. Some people will be able to afford these and change there lifestyles accordingly. Where people can’t afford these then it makes sense for the Council and other public bodies to provide them. They can be relatively cheap per unit.

 Advice and advocacy – People need somewhere to go/to ring to get trusted advice and advocacy where they have issues with their energy bills and people to speak on their behalf. This sounds like something that ought to be established at the regional level with funding from West Yorkshire Combined Authority and advisors trained to the NEA Energy Awareness City and Guilds level.

 The other important thing to remember is that this is not just fuel poverty, it is food poverty, school uniform poverty, period poverty. Actually it is just Poverty and a lot of people who never expected to be in it are going to dumbfounded, lost and acutely embarrassed to find themselves in need of help.  With the mental and physical impacts expected, the next Tsumami could well be a public health one.

Opportunity knocks!

 Many Councillors will be familiar with their local Councils Corporate Risk Register where threats to the Council's core functions and financial health are identified and actions taken to mitigate these risks are detailed. This is  a totally necessary and responsible activity for any large public organisation responsible for delivering vital local services. There is a danger however that this reinforces the risk averse culture that can exist in many councils with an emphasis on playing it safe and giving an undue weight to risk avoidance rather than taking opportunities.

In June Sheffield City Council passed a resolution to establish a Corporate Opportunities Register to balance the attention given to risk and opportunity by senior officers and Councillors. The motion proposed by the Green Party group said,

"that to act as a balance to the Corporate Risk Register, there should be a Corporate Opportunities Register, detailing new funding opportunities, partnership opportunities and initiatives that will help deliver the Council's objectives, such as supporting those affected by the cost of living crisis."

So what might a Corporate Opportunities Register look like? First  you need to identify what the opportunity is. Is it funding you can bid for from Government or other sources? Is it a partnership with another organisation that might help you drive efficiencies and deliver better services? Is it a new activity that can help the  Council achieve it's aims or generate an income stream? All these opportunities would need to be broken down by directorates to ensure high level attention is given across the council .

Not all opportunities we could take should be taken. Perhaps the likelihood of success is low or the effort expended simply not worth it, but demonstrating that as an organisation the Council is aware and tracking opportunities is important. It builds confidence and shows that officers and members are outward looking and keen to look beyond the councils own resources to achieve it's goals.

The real gain from establishing a Corporate Opportunities Register is to show that the culture of the Council is one that is outward facing, ambitious for it's people, entrepreneurial and dynamic. Surely that is something we would like all our Councils to be?