Swale Community and Voluntary Services (CVS) is located in Swale, Kent. Swale CVS primarily supports people aged 55 and older and those who feel digitally excluded. This focus stems from their belief that much of the current information on energy efficiency is promoted online, making it less accessible for those without digital or internet access. Swale CVS offers members of the community personalised energy advice, support to sign up to the Priority Services Register (PSR), and carbon monoxide safety and awareness advice. The aim of their project is to educate their community on what energy efficiency means so they can improve their homes and save money at the same time.  

SGN: Safe and Warm Communities funding has enabled Swale CVS to… 

• Support over 350 households this year with personalised energy advice. 

• Raise awareness of carbon monoxide (CO) safety and provide CO alarms. 

• Provide home visits to those who feel isolated in the community.  

• Help over 300 households sign up to the Priority Services Register. 

“I was really worried about how much my energy bills might go up, especially living on just my pension. It was such a relief to have someone sit down with me and explain the options. I am now on a fixed rate tariff so I know what I’ll be paying each month, and that’s a big weight off my mind. They also gave me tips to save energy and made sure I was on the Priority Service Register — I felt really looked after.” Swale CVS community member 

We spoke with Swale to find out more about how the SGN Safe & Warm funding supported their work.

How has the funding impacted your organisation?  

The funding has enabled us to deliver more home visits and clubs for our community members. CSE’s training and networking events have been particularly valuable for enabling us to speak to other organisations and find out what works well for them. It is also great to know that there’s always someone from CSE you can ask questions to.  

How do you deliver support to community members? 

We have an already established client base of older community members, and we reach out to other communities through local events. We also hold coffee mornings to support individual concerns like help with digital skills and accessing bills online. For isolated members of our community, we run a befriending scheme where we provide home visits and give tailored energy saving and carbon monoxide safety advice.  

People don’t necessarily know the dangers of carbon monoxide so through our home visits we have been able to raise awareness of the dangers and give out CO alarms. We also make sure to remind our clients of the free Priority Services Register service and help them to sign up.  

What advice would you give to other organisations thinking of delivering energy advice in their communities?  

I would say to be proactive within your community and make yourselves stand out to people. It is important to raise awareness of services such as the Priority Services Register, as we did not know about these before we started the project. It is definitely worth doing!