Domestic Energy Efficiency Delivery Partner Framework - Warmer Homes Consortium

The council has an ambition to deliver domestic energy services to all households in Portsmouth and surrounding area in order to mitigate fuel poverty, reduce energy and carbon use and develop and strengthen a local low-carbon supply chain. This includes the development and enhancement of existing schemes and funding; as well as identifying future opportunities, appropriate service and delivery of projects.

Further details related to the provision of energy support via the Switched On Portsmouth service is available at the below links:

• www.switchedonportsmouth.co.uk ↗
• Portsmouth City Council's Energy at Home Strategy 2020-25 (March, 2020) democracy.portsmouth.gov.uk/documents/s26302/Energy ↗ and Water at Home Strategy report with appendices.pdf
• Portsmouth City Council's Home Energy Support Service (January, 2021) Home Energy Support Service progress update from October.pdf (portsmouth.gov.uk)

In order to realise this ambition, the council wishes to appoint a primary provider with whom they can work in the long term to strengthen the Switched On Portsmouth services, bring in additional resource and provide innovation and opportunities relevant to the council's domestic objectives.

The council currently offers (or has recently offered) a number of schemes, both capital projects and support services that it intends to include within the scope of this framework:

• Capital schemes and values: Warm Homes Funding (£7.4m), LAD 1A (£3.1m), LAD 1B (£14.8m) and Sustainable Warmth (£31.9m)
• Services and funding: Energy Redress Funding, Freephone advice line, home energy support visits, income maximisation services, small energy efficiency measures and broken boiler scheme

The LAD 1A/B projects, currently, are the most successful projects under this funding stream; both in terms of spend and numbers of households having received a measure.

It is the council's intention to work with the primary provider to help to further develop its reputation for delivery with BEIS and other funders. It is intended that this framework will allow the council to build upon their work to date and standing with the partner authorities within the Portsmouth-led Warmer Homes Consortium.

It is envisaged that the primary provider is likely to be a partner that coordinates a list of approved local installers to carry out retrofits associated with grant funding. There will be no requirement for the provider to act as the Principal Contractor. Social value, particularly a commitment to create local jobs in energy retrofit, is an important objective of the council.

The council will require that providers are installer neutral and provide no barriers to local SMEs and residents selecting which installer they would like to carry out works. Providers must also be open to using existing service providers and contractors which participating contracting authorities have compliant arrangements in place with.

The scope of activities that the framework may be used to commission providers to undertake can be summarised as:

Core Requirements:

• Act as the delivery agent for funding such as Local Authority Delivery (LAD), Home Upgrade Grant (HUG), Warm Homes Fund (WHF), and other pots of appropriate funding related to energy retrofit.
• Undertaking delivery of grant funding on behalf of the council; including the liability and conditions of delivery from the contracts signed by the funding recipient with BEIS and other funding bodies.
• Support the council by proactively identifying potential retrofit project opportunities and funding sources for all tenure of domestic properties. Work with the council to develop and achieve their domestic energy priorities.
• Provide expert assistance as required to develop bids and funding proposals to government and other funders. Work with funders where appropriate to shape funding to meet the needs of the council.
• Where applicable, build and manage the existing Warmer Homes Consortium to achieve programmes of scale.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with local agencies to generate referrals and offer additional support to residents.
• Secure match funding for projects, including the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding, as appropriate, aggregating funding from a variety of sources.
• Work with the council to identify suitable targets for specific retrofit activity, based on both the physical characteristics of properties, and the socio-economic status of the households.

o Identify, onboard and coordinate the activity of suitably accredited installers to an approved list, to undertake high quality, holistic retrofit work across the south Hampshire region, and other consortium members' areas. This should include a focus on supporting relevant local contractors where appropriate. This may include technical support given to develop their skills and accreditations in the low carbon retrofit sector; as well as operational support such as short payment terms and transparency, and an effective process for understanding the creation of jobs and apprenticeships.

• Offer additional benefits to fuel poor clients such as energy advice, small energy-saving measures, assistance with income maximisation, and referral to other local advice, support and onto schemes offering larger measures as appropriate.
• Manage fuel poverty programmes for the council where appropriate:

o Provide dedicated project and stakeholder management

o Work with the council to market the programme to residents, landlords, local agencies and potential contractors

o Provide straightforward and accessible channels for households to apply for, and be referred to, these fuel poverty programmes

o Provide end-to-end customer support, including eligibility checking, support for completing application forms, dealing with queries and complaints, onward referral to appropriate agencies, and secure transfer and use of personal data

o Provide appropriate retrofit assessment and coordination capacity to ensure individual proper…