Saving money. Saving energy. Saving the environment. - Npower

Warm Zones and Health Through WarmthIn a normal year, there are in excess of 40,000 winter deaths. The sad fact is that many of these deaths could be avoided if peoplecould afford to heat and insulate their homes properly. Launched in April 2001, Warm Zones is a pilot programme promoted bycentral government, bringing help to those who need it most. The programme involves local organisations developing andimplementing a strategic and targeted approach to the delivery of all available energy efficiency related benefits. All homes within aWarm Zones area are assessed for potential energy efficiency measures. Focusing on vulnerable households, this programme aims toprove that fuel poverty can be substantially reduced within three years.Non-Priority GroupProfessionally Installed InsulationThe installation of insulation measures to improve the warmth of a home is one of themost cost-effective ways of saving energy and enhancing comfort levels. ThroughSavings for Life, npower has developed a number of schemes to realise these benefitsfor our customers.npower sponsors three out of the fivepilot areas - Northumberland, Sandwell(in the West Midlands) and Kingston uponHull. Within these areas, we provideadditional resources to those PriorityGroup customers who do not qualify forthe government’s Warm Frontprogramme, enabling them to benefitfrom energy efficiency measures, theassociated reduction in fuel bills and anincrease in home comfort levels. We haveprovided funding towards a significantnumber of measures allowing many morehomes to be made more energy efficientand comfortable for their occupiers.Through our Health Through Warmth(HTW) programme we bring assistance tothose suffering ill health while living incold and damp homes. In this £10 millionproject we work with the National HealthService (NHS) and National EnergyAction (NEA) to help people improve theenergy efficiency of their homes. Thescheme currently operates in 17 areasincluding Birmingham, Newcastle uponTyne, Kent and the Vale of Glamorgan.To date over 6,800 key workers suchas nurses, health visitors and socialworkers have been trained to refertheir vulnerable clients to HTW. Up to£6.3 million of funds has now beenaccessed to help install heating andinsulation measures in their clientshomes.Once trained, key workers fill in astraightforward one-page referral formfor each case. The team then assess themeasures needed to improve conditionsin that home and identify any grantassistance available to fund them.If the person or family in question is noteligible for any existing grant assistance,npower has established a crisis fund tohelp subsidise the necessary measures.npower is contributing to both schemesas part of the Savings for Lifeprogramme, through the Warm Zone andHealth Through Warmth Integrationscheme (NPOW02I06C).Warm Front is another centralgovernment programme, facilitatingenergy efficiency improvementsspecifically towards households with thegreatest health risks - older people,families with children under 16 years oldand people who are disabled or have along-term illness. All beneficiaries of thisprogramme fall within the Priority Groupand are therefore a priority for us too.Through Savings for Life, npower hassupported and fully interacted with WarmFront by purchasing measures under ourWarm Front transfer scheme(NPOW03I26C). The funding from npowerhas enabled additional measures to becarried out through the Warm Frontroute.Our Home Energy Survey ESCo scheme (NPOW02M02N) was designed to work inconjunction with local authority support. The project demonstrated the importance ofpartnership and provided useful information in the development of the subsequentHome Insulation scheme (NPOW02I01C) and Energy Services (NPOW02M14E) scheme.These projects provide customers with a professional insulation service through ouralliance with the InstaFibre Consortium. We offer cavity wall and loft insulationtogether with complementary products such as draught-proofing and hot watercylinder jackets**. Our Energy Services scheme has national coverage and provides allcustomers with the added benefits of home energy surveys and the offer of a financialpackage to help pay for the installation. All of our customers receive a first-classprofessional service and significant discounts on energy efficient products.** Subject to availability and terms and conditions, see page 22.DIY Loft InsulationThrough our DIY Insulation Package scheme (NPOW02I09C) we offered our customersloft insulation products at discounted prices (subject to terms and conditions).The scheme was created through our partnership with the Build Center network andKnauf Insulation. All customers benefited from free national home delivery togetherwith a complimentary installation kit comprising goggles, gloves, dust mask and aninstallation manual. We have now fulfilled the energy savings allocated to this scheme.8 npower Energy Efficiency Commitment Annual Report 2003 - 20049 npower Energy Efficiency Commitment Annual Report 2003 - 2004