Where it all began
Warm Wales – Cymru Gynnes is celebrating 10 years of delivering £40 million in energy efficiencies to homes in Wales
In 2004, when Warm Wales-Cymru Gynnes first set out to visit 62,000 households in Neath Port Talbot (NPT) with an offer of free energy efficiency improvements for their homes, the company expected to be in business for three years. Ten years on, we are the longest established community interest company (CIC) in Wales and continue to invest business surpluses into delivering benefits to welsh communities instead of passing profits to shareholders.
The company was set up by the National Grid to help meet its corporate responsibility to the Government when fuel poverty was high on the political agenda. The NPT project was the first of its type in Wales, involving engagement with every household and local groups to achieve participation by 80 per cent of homes. Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council recognised the energy and carbon emissions savings, training and employment benefits of this scheme for local people. Warm Wales moved on a ward- by-ward basis, offering energy efficiency improvements to those in most need first. The support included providing access to welfare benefits and grants as well as energy advice.
The principal motivation behind Warm Wales’s work was to bring partners together with a budget, using all available sources, to deliver cost effective, fuel poverty relieving measures to Welsh communities. Where households in need fell outside the scope of other funding schemes, the company provided the money so that all were included. The company track record of managing projects totalling £40 million for improvements to nearly 60,000 homes demonstrates how well this commitment has been achieved.
Earlier this year, Warm Wales returned to where it all began in NPT. The company identified a need for external wall insulation for non-traditional construction homes in the Sandfields area and worked with the local authority to secure £580,000 Welsh Government budget and deliver a scheme for 60 homes. This project also had an impact on the local job market, enabling the insulation contractor to retain staff who were about to be made redundant as well as offering work to local tradesmen.
With the current national concern about the affordability of home energy bills and countering climate change there is still much work to be done. Warm Wales looks forward to continuing to play a leading role in the fuel poverty sector for Wales in the years to come. Says Craig Anderson, Warm Wales-Cymru Gynnes CEO: ‘As a CIC, we are trusted intermediaries. We will continue to work within local communities across Wales and with our partners, focussing on the mass retrofitting of housing, which is vitally important for people across the region. We can bring agencies and funding together and use our own investment to benefit many homes.’