Energy Advice · UK public procurement notice

Nationally, central Government provides advice for those interested in retrofitting their homes with insulation and energy saving and generating measures1. Locally, the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) have launched the RetrofitWest Home Energy Advice to support households in this endeavour.

However, there is little independent and offline accessible energy advice for households on low-cost non disruptive measures to save energy, or what to do if they are struggling to pay.

In South Gloucestershire residents are advised and referred to Warm and Well (www.warmandwell.co.uk ↗) and its associated freephone energy advice service, managed by Severn Wye Energy Agency on behalf of South Gloucestershire Council and other Gloucestershire Local Authorities.

In Bristol the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) have operated a similar advice service for over 20 years. In Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), there is ‘Energy at Home’ – a freephone advice line and website (www.energyathome.org.uk ↗) run by the council.

To raise awareness and bolster the capacity of local energy advice, the MCA approved up to £150,000 of funding for a Local Energy Advice Pilot2 in the West of England during a peak in the cost of energy bills during the winter of 2022/23. A Committee Approval in March 2023 approved extending funding by £165k.

The details of this extension were approved as a delegated decision to the MCA’s Environment Director in consultation with their equivalent Environment Directors in the Unitary Authorities. This tender seeks to procure an energy advice service for the Local Authority areas of Bristol and BaNES.

Specification of Energy Advice Services being tendered

This service is to provide households in Bristol and Bath and NE Somerset (BaNES) energy advice and referrals for handling their energy bills and suppliers. The service is to be focused on those struggling with their bills, including advice on low and no-cost measures and behaviours to save energy; and advice and referrals on financial and other support.

This energy advice is to be provided in the form of:

Freephone advice line with human operatives answering calls Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm providing tailored support to people’s circumstances (heating use, house condition, income, health, vulnerabilities, occupancy and behaviours, etc)

B&NES have an existing freephone number through their Energy @ Home scheme – this would be transferred to this service

Online website advice materials with advice pages or downloadable literature

Residents to be provided by energy advisors trained in City & Guilds Energy Awareness NVQ (or similar energy advice accreditation agreed w/ the MCA prior to this ITT closing) to provide this tailored advice (either in answering phone calls or in call-backs from the service operator by suitably trained advisors).

As well as energy advisors having suitable training (detailed in paragraph above), the must have understanding and ability to refer to residents to:

Local and national support services (including those from local authorities, Household Support Grants, Priority Services Register, etc)

Energy grants (including ECO-flex, Home Upgrade Grant, Boiler Upgrade Schemes, pre-payment vouchers, etc)