UPDATE: Energy Advice Service In Arun And Chichester To Receive Three Years Funding

Arun & Chichester Citizens Advice is to be given a £60,000 helping hand to fund its energy advice service for three years.

The money will be taken from Chichester District Council’s general reserve and was approved during a meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday (September 5).

The service was introduced in 2021 and seeks to support people living in fuel poverty, ensuring they are on the correct energy tariffs, helping them to reduce their energy bills and maximise their income.

Jonathan Brown, deputy leader of the council, told the meeting: “We’ve got to look after our most vulnerable residents.”

Laying out the background of the advice service, Tracie Bangert, cabinet member for communities & wellbeing, said that 3,000 households had been reached since it began.

She added:

“In 2020, Chichester district had the third highest number of households in West Sussex in fuel poverty, with 4,842 – and this is likely to increase over the next three years.”

The energy advice service has been funded  countywide by West Sussex County Council since April 2023.

But there are concerns that demand in Chichester will get to such levels that the team will not be able to cope and residents will face long waits for support.

Hence the £20,000pa helping hand each year for three years.

Mrs Bangert told the meeting that if the money was not approved, they risked having ‘vulnerable residents having to make the decision on whether to eat or heat their homes’.

The funding will be reviewed each year, allowing the council to withdraw it if it is felt the service is not delivering.

UPDATE: 

Councillor Tracie Bangert, the council’s Cabinet Member for Community Services, said:

“As a council we are really pleased to be able to continue supporting this vital service which helps hundreds of people each year."

“This service is there to support the most vulnerable people, particularly those who are in fuel poverty. The specialist advisors support clients to ensure that they are on the correct energy tariffs, reduce their energy bills and maximise their income.

“As a council we know first-hand the difference that this advice makes, and helps prevent people from being in the awful situation of having to decide whether to buy food or heat their home.

“We know from Citizens Advice that in the Chichester District in 2020 there were more than 4,800 households in fuel poverty – the third highest in West Sussex - and that sadly this is likely to have increased over the last three years. We are also expecting levels of fuel poverty to rise even further when the Energy Bill Support Scheme ends.

"We also know from a Cost of Living survey that Citizens Advice carried out earlier this year that the biggest worry for most people is their energy bills and that a large proportion of people had significantly reduced their energy use.

“Our own Supporting You and Social Prescribing teams rate the Energy Advice service extremely highly and since January this year have made more than 600 referrals to the service for its specialist advice. Homes that are not heated properly can lead to people becoming ill, and so helping to continue this service will help look after the wellbeing of those need it most.”