A TEAM of volunteers from East Kilbride who offered their assistance to a local charity have successfully passed a training course, which will enable them to help disadvantaged neighbours. 

The Hands On Project in East Kilbride received £7,000 funding from the ScottishPower Energy People Trust in October last year to fund the City and Guilds Energy Awareness Course for volunteers.

The course provided volunteers with the skills to give advice on various aspects of energy efficiency information to save individuals money and energy such as, carrying out an energy efficiency survey in your own home, advising on effective use of controls, timers etc and grant information for installing energy efficiency measures in the client’s home, i.e. cavity wall insulation.

The ScottishPower Energy People Trust was established in November 2005 to fund not-for-profit organisations that help vulnerable people including families, young people, the disabled and the elderly who need to spend more than 10% of their income on energy bills.

Ann Loughrey, ScottishPower’s Head of Corporate Responsibility and The ScottishPower Energy People Trust’s Company Secretary said:

“We’re really pleased that the Hands On Project is doing so well and delighted to hear that the funding has gone to such a worthy cause.

“The Trust is something special as it helps fuel-poor households, through funding no-for-profit organisations, like the Hands On Project.

“Different types of support are provided, including crisis funding, benefits entitlement check, energy efficiency measures and research – all measures to help alleviate fuel poverty. “

At the start of the month, the project took part in an awareness-raising and recruitment roadshow in the local shopping centre and at the Bruce Hotel to promote its services and encourage as many local people as possible to come on board as a volunteer, which was a huge success.

The Hands On Project aims to help ease isolation, loneliness and fuel poverty amongst older people, through befriending a handyperson service, as well as the recently funded energy efficiency advice service.

Now that the volunteers are fully trained, they will put their skills to use by helping the elderly, disabled, housebound and infirm people within the East Kilbride area.

Liz Nelson, Volunteer Development Officer at Hands On Project, said:

“We’re really proud of the volunteers who successfully passed the energy efficiency course and are excited about new volunteers coming on board.

“All volunteers will truly make a huge difference to the people of East Kilbride and we are hoping that by October, when the project will have been running for a year, we will have assisted over 200 individuals in the area.

“We are very grateful that ScottishPower was able to provide the funding and are delighted with the progress so far.”

So far the ScottishPower Energy People Trust has awarded a staggering £3.8m to 90 projects across Britain, assisting over 221,000 individuals in over 91,000 households.

For more information on this project, please contact Liz Nelson, on 01355 806 894.

For more information contact: Gillian Hamilton, at The BIG Partnership, on 0141 333 9585 / 07734656676 or email gillian.hamilton@bigpartnership.co.uk

Note to Editors:

• The ScottishPower Energy People Trust does not provide funding directly to individuals but provides funding to not for profit organisations which represent the vulnerable/fuel poor. People described as living in fuel poverty are those who spend more than 10% of their income on energy bills.
• There is no time limit in organisations applying for funds as the Trust is a long term registered charity. The decisions on the awards to organisations are made independent of ScottishPower by the Board of Trustees of the charity.
• To apply for a grant from The ScottishPower Energy People Trust, log onto www.energypeopletrust.co.uk  or email enquiries@energypeopletrust.co.uk or call 0141 568 4727.
• The ScottishPower Energy People Trust is just one of a number of ScottishPower initiatives which assist some of the UK’s most vulnerable people. As well as working closely with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, ScottishPower employs Community Liaison Officers who visit people in their homes. The energy supplier has also insulated thousands of homes across the UK through its Energy Efficiency Commitment.
• In Ofgem’s Review of Suppliers’ Voluntary Initiatives to Help Vulnerable Customers (August 2007), the Trust was recognised for Best Practice as it integrated energy efficiency advice and the provision of EEC measures to help customers manage and reduce future energy expenditure.