1. Minutes of Last Meeting

Apologies to JV for incorrect spelling of her name.

4a. Westcountry Energy Action and the Devon Affordable Warmth Officer are running the awareness raising sessions, not NEA.

2. Matters Arising

JH has mystery shopped the Home Heat Helpline and found they steer people back to the fuel suppliers and did not promote Warm Front.

Action: GH to chase PR for the update on ROC’s.

GH has contacted Clive Liggate about the conference and it is looking promising.

ME has spoken to GOSW, at the moment they are too busy to deal with this. JH has been asked to train up someone as an Energy Champion but she is not returning his messages.

3. Warm Front Special Projects – Claire Bircham

(Karen Farnworth (not present) provided a handout)

KF is happy to talk to people about what she does. There may be some funding available for specific projects but this is not definite.

NB: COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder.

4. Feedback from DSEN Steering Group – Graham Horler

It was an interesting meeting, funding has been secured from EDF for DSEN secretariat (£10,000 a year for 3 years). The role of DSEN will be developed in the Devon Sustainable Energy Strategy (DSES), a longer term view is to get more resources for DSEN. The Munich Study Tour was well attended and delegates really benefited from the networking and left feeling very motivated.

FS gave an update on the DSES. This is a follow-on from the Devon Renewable Energy Strategy. It will be a 12 page document, due to be completed in March with a delivery term of 2 years. It is about consolidating the Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Declaration and gaining commitment from LA’s to allocate resources. Tony Norton will be writing the first draft, then all will have the opportunity to comment. JH noted the need to engage with all departments, make sure HECA officers are included in the consultation process.

5. Devon Energy Efficiency Advice Centre – Energy Saving Trust Update – Graham Horler

4, 718 clients referred to EEAC schemes since January, directly referred almost 300 people to Warm Front.

Last year’s Little Pledge Campaign, which ran from Oct 05-Sep 06: out of the 5300 responses across the South West, 2065 were from Devon. If you need details of these figures GH has a break down by council.

In October, 3000 calls were taken by South West EEAC’s, 1300 of these in Devon. This is because WcEA uses the 0800 512 012 number for all schemes, which is much simpler.

EST has managed to reclaim some of the VAT that was lost in HMRC’s ruling. This has been put into a fund for bidding. Having been only given a week to put bids in GH and FS apologise for not consulting, but will do so if they are successful. The proposals must be for projects that involve working with LA’s, using LA credibility to disseminate the energy efficiency message, projects should result in measures being installed. Proposals for:

•‘Energy Buddy’ in West Devon would allow EEAC to do more home visits.

•‘Climate for Change’ would be a pledge campaign, with events for people to find out about what their LA’s are doing. Hopefully get the MP’s involved. Bid for £25k.

6. EEC3 Consultation – Colin Anderson

First consultation is over, final consultation finishes late Spring 07, still time to get comments to DEFRA. UK could learn a lot from the German approach, where they work out a package of measures to get the house to a certain SAP rating. In the UK it is left up to the utility companies to decide what to do. DEFRA has an illustrative mix which lists measures provided under EEC, and gives an indicative price and carbon savings.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/Environment/energy/eec/index.htm

Main issue is how to split the funding between priority and able to pay customers. Currently it is 50/50.  Choices for EEC3 are 25/75 or 47/53 (priority/able to pay)(latter because that will mean all priority households in UK have been insulated.) 25/75 is more realistic and attainable for fuel suppliers and those managing grant schemes. By 2008 all public sector housing should be insulated which eliminates a significant proportion of the priority group. Under EEC 3 money could also be used for marketing and advice.

7.  Devon Affordable Warmth Strategy - Martin Eibl

ME on Radio Devon on Monday talking about social tariffs, PSR and energy efficiency.

Devon Affordable Warmth review workshops, 25 people attended and it was productive session. ME has also been carrying out events around the county with landlords, LA’s and the elderly specifically promoting ‘Take Action for a Warmer Home’.

The Munich Study Tour was very successful and has received very positive feedback. Two main things that ME picked up were:

•Much of the city is covered by district heating systems, currently only 10% of these use renewable energy but it will be easy to add to this in the future.

•50,000 households in arrears with energy bills – so there is officially no fuel poverty. Social Service will just pay the bills for people who are struggling.

There will be follow up events, hopefully involving DSES and HECA officers.  There will be a final report that all delegates will be able to contribute to. Alistair Darling (SoS for Trade and Industry) has requested to see it.

8. Plymouth Affordable Warmth Strategy update – Colin Anderson

Going well, good group of partners. CA has written a draft energy strategy called ‘Clean Energy’ that PAWS will fit into. The Affordable Warmth meetings are good opportunities to meet with other organisations/sectors. And it’s a good vehicle for discussing LAA.

9. Sub Group Action Plan

(see handout)

1.5: ME’s awareness raising sessions should be fitted into the Action Plan.

1.6: Important to look into link between health and housing condition, especially key for LAA’s goal to reduce inequality in death rates.

Action: ME to follow this up.

2.1: Emergency heating is a guarded subject, most agencies like to reserve them for their own members. In Plymouth, households awaiting a Warm Front heating grant can borrow an oil filled radiator from Plymouth Healthy Homes. This is expensive, as heaters must be electrically tested when they come in and go out, often cheaper to just give them away. However this is not ideal as doesn’t improve household energy efficiency. CA suggested approaching EAGA for funding.

Action: Push DCC’s social services for information about temporary heating providers.

Action: Upgrade this to high priority.

2.5: Warm Up extended to Mid Devon, about to launch in South Hams. Since January there have been 1435 referrals to Warm Up Exeter, 620 to WU West Devon, 450 to HH North Devon. (Referrals = measures installed)

Action: FS to send out figures with minutes.

JH suggested increasing attendance at these meetings especially from housing associations and social services.

Action: FS contact Munich delegates for invitation. All to make an effort to feed back relevant info to other groups they are part of.

Action: All to look through the Action Plan and give FS suggestions for future invitees. Theme meetings and select attendees appropriately.

Action: FS to send out terms of reference and check if they are on the website.

Put article in South West Housing’s daily newsletter. Action: JV to send link to FS.

10. AOB

British Gas fund for renewable energy projects – primarily public buildings, and only solar hot water, photovoltaic, wind, biomass and ground source heat pumps. Likely to fund 30-50% of the cost, JP says it is unlikely to be in addition to Low Carbon Buildings Programme grant.

Action: All – any suggestions to JP ASAP.

FS is looking into alternative venues for future meetings.

Date of Next Meetings

Tuesday 20th February 2007 10am-12.30pm

Tuesday 5th June 2007 10am-12.30pm

Tuesday 2nd October 2007 10am-12.30pm

Tuesday 18th December 2007 10am-12.30pm