MAKING ENERGY BETTER
An investigation into the energy challenges faced by rural
communities in Dorset
PROJECT TEAM
Bob Pulleybank, Karen Spurr, Tim Smith
May 2016
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Citizens Advice awarded funding to Citizens Advice in Dorset (CAiD) to deliver a project through
the “Making Energy Better” campaign which seeks to ‘address the unique and often
disproportionate energy challenges faced by rural communities’.
The funding has enabled CAiD to produce the Energy Referral Toolkit shown in Appendix 5 which
is now available for advice providers on the Advice Dorset website. The 7 rural Citizens Advice
(CA) offices in Dorset have been funded to promote and share this Toolkit with their Local Advice
Networks. Purbeck CA has also been funded to investigate the impact of being off-gas in rural
Dorset.
This report presents the findings of this investigation with specific references to the difficulties
faced by households living in off-gas areas, the impact on individuals and families in the form of
case studies, and a summary of the advice and support available to these households.
The underlying causes of Fuel Poverty (low incomes, high fuel prices and poor quality housing) are
also the principal drivers for the energy challenges faced by off-gas communities. Consequently,
Fuel Poverty statistics have been used to identify the types of property and heating fuels which
are likely to lead to households experiencing difficulties in off-gas areas.
The identification of off-gas areas was greatly assisted by the availability of the Non-Gas Map
which has been produced by KILN for DECC and National Grid. This interactive map (described in
Section 2.2) shows the number of properties in each Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) which are
within 23m of a gas main (and entitled to request a gas supply) and those over 23m from a gas
main together with a number of data items such as Fuel Poverty, property tenure and fuel used
for heating.
Analysis of this data for 37,711 households in West Dorset has shown that there is a direct link
between fuel poverty and living in an off-gas area, that there is a less direct link with households
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living in private rented or rent-free accommodation and a weak link with electric or oil-fired
central heating. There was no link between fuel poverty and households living in purpose built or
converted flats. The main drivers by Government to reduce fuel poverty have been to promote
competitive markets through supplier switching and to improve housing quality through grants for
insulation and replacement gas boilers.
These drivers to reduce fuel poverty do not have much impact in rural Dorset due to a number of
factors including the poor internet service making it difficult to obtain the most competitive
energy prices and the prevalence of private rented accommodation restricting the availability of
housing upgrades. This has an adverse impact on households which suffer from reduced use of
the house due to only heating a few rooms, and/or an increase in ill-health and poor living
conditions due to condensation and mould.
There are local initiatives to improve housing quality for some households (such as Healthy Homes
Dorset funded by Public Health Dorset) but it is recommended that a broader approach is taken
which co-ordinates actions and offers improvements to heating and housing for private rented
and rent-free accommodation (such as loans to purchase bulk fuel stocks or a boiler rental
scheme). This would enable significant additional housing improvements compared to current
improvement schemes. In addition the way that CA record energy issues could be improved to
allow for follow-up and analysis of clients with energy challenges.
There is a proposal to revise the Priority Services Register to allow more specific actions by
Distribution companies and this would be an opportunity to refer CA clients direct to these
companies and maintain an awareness of their vulnerability.
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