Cadent launches Warm Homes Network

Cadent, National Grid, Northern Gas Networks and a number of other organisations are participating in a new fuel poverty initiative to help the most vulnerable consumers.

The Warm Homes Network is a “one-stop-shop for vital guidance, including energy efficiency, benefits entitlement and debt advice” and is designed to help consumers save money to help pay their bills.

A pilot of the scheme, launching in Birmingham this month, will test the network by supporting up to 200 vulnerable customers. A rural pilot will be launched in Cumbria in October and a GB-wide rollout is expected in 2024.

Current Warm Homes Network Partners include:

• Cadent
• National Grid
• Northern Gas Networks
• Google Cloud
• National Energy Action
• Groundwork UK
• YES Energy Solutions
• Pennysmart
• The Cadent Foundation
• Birmingham City Council

Edward Allard, social programmes manager at Cadent, said: “We know that funding to support customers living in the most vulnerable situations exists across the industry and that there are many successful projects benefitting communities right now. However, we also know that there might be several and quite significant project overlaps, resulting in time and budgets not always being maximised to offer the most support to households.

“This is why the Warm Homes Network has been established. Through collaboration, it creates a powerful platform for some of the UK’s leading utility, charity and technology brands to maximise their support for families who really need it. We are incredibly proud to be leading on this initiative and our initial forecasts predict that the model will quickly and significantly have a positive impact for families when they need help the most.”

Neil Osborne, chief energy evangelist at Google Cloud, said he was “looking forward to seeing how the new collaborative delivery model encourages the scaling of this approach to help vulnerable customers right across the UK”.