Become a Paid Energy Champion

Becoming an Energy Champion for Surrey’s Home Energy Advice team means you can get paid to support your neighbours and community with energy advice, lower energy bills, and referrals for free home energy upgrades!

The Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT) has supported over 2500 homes in Surrey over the last 2 winters, with a resident feedback score of 4.9 stars out of 5! It’s a fantastic community-run service which can help residents to:

As an Energy Champion you will be trained to conduct thermal imaging scans to identify where homes are losing heat, help residents navigate the best low energy solutions for their home, and signpost them to energy grants.

It’s a fantastic new skill to learn, and some Energy Champions have gone on to qualify as Domestic Energy Assessors and Retrofit Assessors – all paid for by HEAT.

Whether you’re looking to gain experience to move into the rapidly growing clean energy sector, or you just want to help your neighbours with winter fuel bills, then this is a great opportunity to meet new people, gain new skills, and get paid whilst you do it!

Trusted, Independent Energy Advice

HEAT began as a collaboration Surrey County Council and ZERO in Guildford, with government funding being used to create 2 projects (HEAT and Surrey’s One Stop Shop) which together aim to provide a pathway to home energy upgrades for any resident, regardless of income or personal circumstances.

Most residents with an energy performance rating (EPC) of D or below are eligible for a HEAT visit. You can check your EPC on this gov.uk webpage.

Residents who fall into lower-income brackets may be referred to HEAT Plus for more in-depth support, or to the Warm Homes Local Grant process for up to £30,000 of energy efficiency grant money. Residents not falling into this bracket can explore Furbnow’s One Stop Shop, which provides whole-house energy plans, and has some subsidised packages for creating a whole-house plan.

The HEAT service is now run by a partnership of ZERO in the west of Surrey, Circular Dorking in central Surrey, and Energy Action Redhill & Reigate in the east, meaning this excellent free service covers the entire county.

Home energy visits have just begun for the winter, but it’s not too late to train up and get involved!

The next training session is 29th November, and will be in Oxted, delivered by Energy Action Redhill and Reigate.

How Are Energy Champions Trained?

Potential Energy Champions attend the 1-day training, then complete an online National Energy Action course. They will then shadow experienced Energy Champions who will provide practical guidance on how the home visits are conducted in a professional and friendly manner – whilst providing the benefit of an independent fellow-resident informing the householder about their choices. Once the team feels you’re ready to go out alone then you can start conducting paid visits.

Safety precautions are in place for visits, and all energy champions must be DBS checked before they begin the shadowing process. A lone working app is provided which will trigger an emergency response if the Energy Champion feels it necessary (though this has never happened in 2500 visits).

Sign up to the next Energy Champion training session by clicking the image below…or email your local group to find out when you can next get involved:

West Surrey – energysurveys@zerocarbonguildford.org

Central Surrey – energysurvey.circulardorking@gmail.com

East Surrey – info@earr.co.uk