With winter just around the corner, West Dunbartonshire Council’s Welfare Rights and Money Advice in partnership with local organisations, have launched a new Home Energy Action Team (HEAT) to tackle fuel poverty in West Dunbartonshire.
The new service is being launched this week and is available to all residents in bought or rented accommodation. The team will offer advice and assistance to people who maybe struggling to heat their homes and help them to maximise their income. In addition the service can also organise insulation and ensure a relatively efficient boiler system is in place to heat their home and advise as to what improvements they can do to save money and energy in the home.
Along with home energy advice, the service can also assist with debt management for rent or council tax arrears, fuel debt, mortgage debt, bank or finance loans, HP agreements, credit card debt and doorstop credit. The team can provide you with information to make informed choices on the best way forward to deal with your debt and can also contact and negotiate with creditors on your behalf.
Thirteen staff from Welfare Rights & Money Advice Service and Citizens Advice Bureau successfully completed the training course through Energy Action Scotland and gained a City & Guilds Certificate in Energy Awareness.
Spokesperson for Social Work and Health, Cllr Ronnie McColl said: “Fuel poverty is increasing nationally due to the rising cost of fuel. I am delighted residents in West Dunbartonshire are being offered this free service to ensure the money they spend on heating their homes is not wasted.”
He continued: “I would urge residents to contact the team and get their home assessed. It is important not only for your pocket but also your health, that your home is well insulated and you have an adequate heating system to see you through the winter.”
Leading up to the launch of the service, the HEAT team have already assisted over 100 residents, resulting in people qualifying for new heating systems, insulation in over twenty homes, and assistance in reducing fuel bills for an estimated thirty families.
Two residents from Linnvale, Clydebank have just had a new central heating system and combi boiler installed in their houses.
Mrs Gillies said: “An officer from Welfare Rights came to my house and under eight weeks I had a new central heating system filled along with a new combi boiler”.
She added: “I found the process very easy as there was no difficult paperwork to fill out, all I had to do was add my signature to the paperwork. I would recommend this to everyone as the officer who visited me could not have done more to help me. It has just been wonderful.”
Mr Gorman said: “I honestly can’t thank the Council enough for the service I have received. The standard of workmanship during the work and also their aftercare service was first class.
He continued: “The two officers from the Council were fantastic and I’m now looking forward to welcoming my family into my nice warm house this Christmas.”
West Dunbartonshire Council’s Home Energy Action Team initiative is a joint venture between West Dunbartonshire Council’s Welfare Rights & Money Advice Service, Housing, Economic & Environmental Development and has been set up with funding from West Dunbartonshire’s Community Planning Partnership. Together they will work in partnership with local organisations including Citizens Advice Bureau, Independent Resource Centre in Clydebank, Solas and Miller Pattison.
In 2002, the estimated number of people in Scotland who were in Fuel Poverty was 293,000. With the current economic climate and the huge increases in fuel costs, this has now been estimated in the region of 850,000 in 2009. And for every 1% fuel increase, a further 8,000 people are estimated to be placed into fuel poverty. Recent reports suggest that fuel bills have increased, on average, by 42% between 2007 and 2009.
Research suggests that living in cold and damp homes not only increases the number of winter deaths but it exacerbates a number of other health conditions, such as influenza; heart disease; strokes; elderly people’s resistance to respiratory disease - which falls at lower temperatures; high blood pressure - as blood pressure increases at lower temperatures; recovery time from long term illness - as this is also increased at lower temperatures; and children or young people’s respiratory conditions.
To contact the HEAT team and arrange a free visits to carry out an energy efficiency assessment please call 0345 300 1049.
