£500,000 fuel poverty fund opens for grant applications

Charities, councils and community groups are being urged to help support families to heat their homes this winter by applying for grants of up to £10,000.

The £500,000 fund has been provided by local electricity distributor Western Power Distribution (WPD) in a bid to tackle fuel poverty in the community. Applications are now open at www.westernpower.co.uk/community-matters-fund.

Alison Sleightholm, WPD’s Resources and External Affairs Director said: “As we enter a challenging winter, our fund will directly support community organisations who are working at the grassroots to support vulnerable people and families. 

“With three million households across the UK already in fuel poverty, we are keen to continue to do what we can to support local communities in the areas we serve. We urge community organisations of all sizes to apply for funding and we look forward to hearing their ideas of how our funding could help them to extend their support.

Tackling fuel poverty is a crucial and pressing priority for WPD. Over the past two years, the company has worked with partners to deliver £20 million of direct savings for over 40,000 customers struggling to pay their bills. Building on this work, this first phase of the relaunched ‘Community Matters Fund’, will focus on achieving positive change for local communities.”

The application window for funding is open until 22 November. To help guide applications, examples of the types of support the fund will consider are:

✔       Energy tariff/switching advice

✔       Energy efficiency guidance and products: Insulation installations, updating heating systems

✔       Grant/discount scheme advice

✔       Innovation/other to be detailed and impact clearly specified and demonstrated.

For more information and to apply, please visit www.westernpower.co.uk/community-matters-fund. Follow the fund on social media via #WPDCommunityFund.