Energy Transition Initiative of the Year: Communities
Energy Transition Initiative of the Year: Communities
Recognising initiatives that deliver energy transition outcomes with and for communities and households, including work that addresses fuel poverty, vulnerability and fair access to clean energy.
The finalists
Equans UK & Ireland
Net Zero Neighbourhood: Brockmoor, Dudley
Brockmoor is a whole-neighbourhood retrofit scheme in Dudley led by Equans UK & Ireland with Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council and West Midlands Combined Authority, covering social, private rented and owner-occupied housing. Homes were selected on EPC rating and retrofit suitability rather than by income testing. Fifty-two properties received fabric-first upgrades, heat pumps, 109kWp of solar and 198kWh of battery storage, with Levelise optimisation software and real-time monitoring across 70 homes. Equans reports a 60% reduction in energy use and costs, at least 48.7 tCO2e saved annually, and average bill savings of £937 per household, rising to £1,849 for vulnerable residents.
Sirio Multilateral Strategies
VEST: Vulnerability in the Energy System Transition
VEST is a platform developed by Sirio Multilateral Strategies Ltd to identify households at risk of missing out on low-carbon technologies such as heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage. It combines personal vulnerability indicators, fuel poverty data, Priority Services Register information and property characteristics, then converts the analysis into three tools: postcode-level insight for electricity networks aggregated to local authority level, targeting for delivery partners, and tailored recommendations for households. Rather than mapping vulnerability alone, it sets out the barriers preventing participation. The platform is progressing towards deployment with a UK electricity network and its delivery partners.
SP Energy Networks
Net Zero Fund
SP Energy Networks' Net Zero Fund supports communities that lack the capacity or match funding to take their own decarbonisation projects forward. It works in three phases: capacity-building workshops, expert feasibility support, then grant funding, with the company acting as funder of last resort where schemes would otherwise stall. It has delivered 32 workshops engaging over 400 community representatives, supported 22 feasibility studies and funded 26 projects, ranging from low-carbon upgrades to community buildings to electric vehicles and e-bike schemes, investing more than £3.1m. Savings of 28,772 tCO2e are forecast, at a projected £3.10 of social value per £1 invested.
SP Electricity North West
Social DSO strategy
SP Electricity North West's Social DSO strategy sets out how the distribution network operator embeds fairness and social value into network planning, investment and stakeholder engagement, on the basis that low-income, digitally excluded and rural households risk being left behind by the energy transition. It was shaped by a survey of 183 stakeholders and a roundtable of 73 participants. Delivery includes Smart Street voltage management, a Social DSO Fund backing community energy schemes, and planning tools for councils and community groups. The company reports over £9.6m in savings and support for more than 41,000 people, including £2.2m in bill savings across 19,500 households.
Switch Together
South East Wales
Switch Together ran a regional group-buying scheme for solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicle charging with seven local authorities: Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport, Torfaen and the Vale of Glamorgan. Council backing and competitive procurement were used to address household concerns about cost, supplier trust and a complicated buying process, with two installers appointed and systems tailored to individual roofs. The programme completed 491 installations, comprising 2,343kW of solar capacity, 3,472kWh of battery storage and 85 chargers, finishing in January 2026. First-year bill savings of £279,000 and 369,751kg of CO2 avoided annually are expected.