Partners

We work closely with, and support the work of several of the Council’s departments, including Public Health who lead on fuel poverty work in the Council; the Private Sector Housing and Private Rented Sector teams; and the Park Homes Liaison Forum; and Inclusion Cornwall. As the move to transition to low carbon technologies gathers pace, our links with Cornwall Council’s Climate Neutral team are very valuable.

Since 2012, we’ve been involved in Winter Wellbeing – a project to ensure that vulnerable householders in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have direct access to the advice and practical support they need to stay warm and well during the winter. The Cornwall Council coordinated project is a partnership made up of more than 30 organisations from across the public sector, private sector and voluntary & charities sector in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly working with the elderly, young families and individuals in poor health, joining forces to provide a coordinated response to the cold weather. Community Energy Plus host the project’s Freephone advice line and offer home visits to provide advice on insulation, heating and managing energy bills, along with practical support, to householders at risk of ill health in the cold weather.

The scheme encourages best practice in the private rented sector across Cornwall, working with landlords to provide safe, well-managed and good quality accommodation. The scheme provides landlords with updates on regulations and our Landlord Liaison Officer works with landlords to give specialist advice and support to help them improve their properties.

Age UK Cornwall are an independent local charity that supports people in Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and South Devon. They have been working within local communities to help older people for over 50 years. To do this, they provide a wide range of services, support and activities, such as: Veteran, Carer, and Cancer Support Services; Wellbeing groups; Respiratory Support; Falls Prevention; Benefits Advice/Services; Gardening and Home Support Services; host Community Hubs based in Newquay/Falmouth/St Austell; a 365 day per year Helpline; and community/health-based transport provision. Their aim is to inspire individuals and communities to Age Well in Later Life.

An active member of the Winter Wellbeing partnership, we have a close relationship with the Citizens Advice Cornwall team. During the course of every year, they refer clients to us for specialist support, and we refer clients to them, especially for help with energy debt.

CN4C deliver a range of services supporting vulnerable people and households in some of the most deprived communities in Cornwall. We are always delighted to be able to support the work they do and members of our team regularly join the CN4C team in hosting outreach events.

disAbility Cornwall are a values based, user-led charitable company with a mission to represent, include, support and empower people living with a long term health condition or disability, their families and carers in Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly. They support community organisations and businesses to develop more inclusive approaches to meeting the needs of their clients and customers. Their vision is a fully inclusive and equitable society, with equality of opportunity for all. They believe that working positively and proactively with their membership and service providers in all sectors, will increase the economic and social well-being of all citizens in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

We have partnered with the team at Cornwall Mind to deliver our Positive Mental Health advice service. One of Cornwall Mind’s caseworkers has been supporting our frontline advice team in managing the psychological impacts of dealing with distressed clients struggling with their energy costs. Our Cornwall Mind partnership has allowed us to work with a group of clients where mental health challenges have prevented them easily resolving issues with their energy supplier.

Transformation Cornwall represents the Christian faith-based groups across Cornwall and is a central point to work with The Trussell Trust foodbanks.

Volunteer Cornwall is a charity dedicated to building social capital and developing the wellbeing of individuals and communities in Cornwall. They do this by working in collaboration with a wide range of organisations to promote and support active citizenship and voluntary action covering the emotional, social, environmental and economic needs and opportunities in Cornwall. From their Head Office in Truro, and their outreach teams across Cornwall, they provide support to all aspects of volunteering across the county and are involved in a range of projects and services.

The Energy Redress Scheme has awarded over £34m since 2018 to fund nearly 200 projects across England, Scotland and Wales that support vulnerable energy customers and carbon emission reduction initiatives. The scheme distributes payments from companies who Ofgem consider have breached their licence conditions and operating rules. Community Energy Plus has delivered several projects funded through the scheme, including our core energy advice service.

Working across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, National Energy Action (NEA) is the national charity campaigning to end fuel poverty. They provide a range of training courses which we access for our team to ensure they stay up to date with the main issues. They also organise the South West Fuel Poverty Forum which is a key space to find out about what partners across the region are doing and the challenges they face.

Our colleagues across the border (the Tamar river) deliver similar services to us in Cornwall. We work with them on delivery of the Affordable Warmth programme funded by National Grid. Through this project, we sign up vulnerable households to the Priority Service Register which provides extra support during a power cut for those who need it, including elderly, very ill or disabled people, or those who rely on power for medical equipment. Through the programme, we are also funded to provide energy advice to households.

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The Cornwall Climate Action Network (registered as a CIC in 2022) aims to support and grow the network of climate action groups across Cornwall, with practical support and mutual encouragement. Two of our team, Tim and Katharine, are directors of the CIC, reflecting their commitment to actively engage with groups wanting to do more to raise awareness of the climate emergency and to ensure a just transition, where no one is ignored or left behind.

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We work with all foodbanks in Cornwall so they can refer clients to us for energy help.

We deliver energy support, information and advice to support hubs, held at the Light & Life Centre, St Austell once a month. Andy Payne, St Austell Foodbank Manager remarked on our partnership “Support, help and advice given is amazing and helps ours clients in so many different ways.”

For more information on our support hub activity, visit our Events page

We work with all foodbanks in Cornwall so they can refer clients to us for energy help.