A peer networking event for community energy groups in partnership with Exeter Community Energy (ECOE) and supported by Stephens Scown.
This event provided an opportunity to learn about innovative energy efficiency projects being carried out by community energy groups, and find out about the challenges they faced and embraced.
Presentations
PEC’s Energy Team and services to fuel poor households’, Jen Coles, Plymouth Energy Community
Community ESCO’s, Kayla Ente, Brighton and Hove Energy Services Coop
Community energy peer networking workshop, Jodie Giles, Regen
The speakers
Kayla Ente, BHESCo’s founder, will speak about the challenges the co-operative has experienced in the last two years operating a community owned energy services provider. Government regulation, including the privatisation of the energy market, has brought more inequity instead of creating an affordable energy supply. The focus on Brexit for the foreseeable future presents an opportunity for community energy groups to offer a complete portfolio of energy services to the public, promoting a fairer and more humanistic, local energy supply.
Jen Coles, project developer, will speak about PEC’s Energy Team’s evolution from providing a series of standalone services which tackles specific issues, to a much more holistic, bespoke service according to individual need. We have learnt along the way that fuel poverty cannot be understood without looking at the wider context of people’s circumstances, particularly around health and housing. By offering holistic support from case workers with a wider skillset we can create longer term improvements in wellbeing.
Jonathan Atkinson, project manager will talk about the lessons from Carbon Coop’s energy services in Manchester focusing on whole house retrofit services and their Community Green Deal project. The role of membership, the motivations of householders, the technical approach used and a review of performance data from the project will all be examined.