To help energy communities (ECs) keen to implement energy solidarity measures, CEES offers a quick summary of associated ‘costs’ to consider.
CEES pilots have demonstrated that the capacity of an EC to adopt solidarity mechanisms depends on its ability to cover two primary things: material costs and human resources (time and associated costs). Both of these are closely tied to how easy or difficult it is to replicate a given mechanism, taking into account how it might need to be adapted to a different context.
To help ECs get a sense of what they will need to get started, CEES has developed a set of symbols to indicate what is relatively easy to implement and what implies higher costs, more labour and a higher level of difficulty in replicating.
CEES pilot projects emphasise the extent to which practising energy solidarity differs from the more typical work of ECs. In particular, it involves new kinds of work and different types of engagement with an unfamiliar set of members and/or customers. To date, research shows that most EC members have a relatively high level of education and sufficient financial resources to pay membership fees or make investments. Putting energy solidarity into practice will mean learning how to support people who may have lower levels of knowledge and are coping with challenging life experiences and situations, including economic hardship and social isolation.
CEES Partners found staying on track with proposed programme timings to be a substantial challenge, particularly as they were piloting mechanisms they had never before integrated into their broader work programmes. Ultimately, while acknowledging the vital importance of planning, CEES partners caution ECs about being careful not to ‘over-plan’. One risk is that it will delay getting started on what is likely to be a long process during which many things are likely to change
Budgeting time and finances
Notably, CEES Partners consistently found that serving the needs of people in energy vulnerability can take a lot of time – and is thus resource-intensive.
ECs will need to carefully consider how many people they hope to serve and how many people and what financial capacity they will need to do that. They also need to recognise that these individuals (or teams) may need to operate in non-conventional ways, for example extending Home Visits to build trust or hosting community events outside of regular office hours. Their job (or volunteer) descriptions should set clear frameworks within which they can make independent decisions while avoiding management and approval structures that would undermine their ability to be responsive to unexpected situations.
With energy poverty on the rise due to the current energy crisis in Europe, CEES Partners caution other ECs to be realistic about what they can achieve with available resources.
