Cut Fuel, Save Money

Cut Fuel, Save Money

Organisation behind the project

Based in Rochdale, the Kashmir Youth Project (KYP) is a leading community/voluntary organisation, established more than 40 years ago to support people who had moved to Rochdale from the Kashmir region of Pakistan. It is an independent charity dedicated to the development and economic regeneration of local communities. It helps more than 2,000 people of all ages every year either through enterprise, employment or training.

Background and detailed description of the project

The aim of the Fuel Katao, Paisay Bachao (Cut Fuel, Save Money) project was to provide bi-lingual energy efficiency advice for the Kashmiri and other black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in Rochdale which has proved to be a great success.

By engaging with Rochdale’s most deprived communities, this project helped empower vulnerable members of the community by developing their understanding of the energy market, its impact on their lives and the means to make relevant choices for their social and economic wellbeing.

Our £8,280 funding was used to appoint a dedicated bilingual project officer to work with local community centres and mosques to raise awareness of fuel poverty issues and opportunities to improve energy efficiency. Advice and information from Electricity North West was shared in English and Urdu to address the language barrier.

The project held two energy efficiency events, which reached around 150 people, to educate them on energy efficiency measures and to help change behaviours to reduce fuel consumption. A number of support services were represented at the events; the local council was on hand to provide information on the support it provides such as cavity wall insulation and the Toasty Rochdale scheme, part of a wider Greater Manchester initiative to reduce energy consumption in domestic homes by funding home improvements.

The workshops were also attended by Electricity North West, giving customers the opportunity to sign up to our priority services register (PSR) and receive further advice on energy saving measures.

Over 40 customers who attended the events provided feedback which shows how well these events were received by the local community.

Another outcome of the project was a bilingual podcast to spread the word about energy efficiency and our PSR which has been broadcast on local radio. The podcast will also be aired on community radio station Roch Valley Radio, one of our new vulnerable customer partners.

Further information in English and Urdu was issued to hundreds of people in the borough via visits to community centres, leaflets and social media.

In summary, using these combined resources the project:

• Raised awareness of fuel poverty issues among the target community
• Increased confidence among householders so they were able to make small improvements in their homes to improve energy efficiency and control their energy consumption
• Helped householders to reduce energy costs
• Helped householders to switch energy supplier
• Increased access to eligible benefits and services.

Project partners

To deliver the project, KYP worked with a number of partners who helped to raise awareness of the project among their service users and encouraged them to participate in the awareness-raising events including:

• Empowering Minds – a consultancy which uses workshops, training and project management to engage, educate and inspire organisations and individuals
• Bangladesh Association of Community Projects (BACP) – a community hub organisation based in central Rochdale which aims to reduce the deprivation of ethnic communities by enabling them to access opportunities to break down social and economic barriers
• Bilal Masjid – the local mosque
• Ambition for Ageing – various local groups engaged in activities to support older people
• Petrus – a local charity which supports homeless people.

Where to go for further information

For more information on our community and local energy strategy visit our strategy page, or to find out more about the work of KYP visit their website.