Taking the decision to engage in energy solidarity brings unanticipated dimensions to ECs. A fundamental question, then, is “what skills and which people do we need?”
ECs tend to be staffed by people with technical expertise and business know-how, reflecting the need to balance smooth operations and financial viability.
Given the particular characteristics and needs of energy-poor households that ECs regularly encounter (who may or may not be EC clients or members), people who will manage and/or deliver energy solidarity actions require exceptional social skills. ECs should not assume that social ‘instincts’ will be enough. They should also understand that it may be inappropriate to reassign existing staff or volunteers to energy solidarity projects – even if they express interest and especially if they do not.
Once the decision is taken to implement energy solidarity measures, ECs should take specific steps to prepare the organisation and its staff and/or volunteers.
Practical ways to protect people
This includes actions such as developing clear protocols for interacting with individuals in vulnerable situations, coupled with mechanisms to monitor that the protocols are being followed consistently. It is also likely that specific training should be initiated in areas such as active listening, using clear and non-judgemental language, and expressing empathy and understanding. All staff and volunteers should be given certificates to acknowledge completion of training and should sign documentation acknowledging that they have been made aware of these internal processes. The protocols should also establish ways by which staff and volunteers can suggest changes to better reflect their experience in the field.
Ongoing professional development
Effective continuous professional development within ECs may include aspects of dealing with difficult situations as well as both team building and lone-working procedures. To ensure the physical and mental well-being of staff and/or volunteers, it should also cover topics such as health and safety, stress management, and self-care.
Ideally, ECs would onboard these skills by engaging individuals with extensive training and experience in sectors such as social work and community engagement. Before sending them out in the field, ECs should ensure such recruits have sufficient knowledge and know-how to answer questions about technical aspects of energy, energy poverty and energy solidarity.
CEES pilots also demonstrated that the additional workload is likely to disrupt business models. This raises a second question as to whether an EC can bring on new staff or will need to rely on volunteers.
Filling the skills gaps
When first taking up energy solidarity measures, ECs may need to budget both time and funding for building the capacities of existing staff, recruiting new personnel or engaging volunteers. New approaches to time management may also be needed, particularly for those working on the social side of the work. Often, the social work must start well in advance of any technical work and be carried through over the duration of any intervention.
A list of potential training topics, while not exhaustive, already reflects the wide range of areas that must be considered. Not all staff will need to be skilled across all areas. Frontline workers, for example, might need more training dedicated to understanding energy poverty and energy solidarity and on the soft skills. In-depth knowledge of privacy law, by contrast, is most important to people collecting or processing data.
Many ECs already have energy advisors (EAs) on staff to help customers practise responsible consumption and save money on bills. Adopting energy solidarity practices will inevitably require ECs – and especially EAs – to undertake new kinds of work in new and unfamiliar spaces. They are most likely to be interacting directly with people who have unfamiliar and often challenging life experiences and life situations. Indeed, CEES Partners reported that EAs sometimes encountered severe deprivation and desperation.
As such, EAs are core to energy solidarity programmes and may require the broadest, most in-depth and ongoing professional development. To act effectively, they will need to be kept up to date on all the main factors that influence energy poverty and are relevant to energy solidarity. These include technical aspects such as home energy efficiency, insulation, heating systems and renewable energy sources. But it also extends to related areas such as energy suppliers, tariffs and meters; energy saving behaviours; relevant legislation; and available grants and schemes.
As EAs are most likely to interact directly with households experiencing situations of energy poverty, they also need to have strong interpersonal and/or soft skills.
Three CEES Partners (ALIenergy, Enercoop and ZEZ) that carried out training for EAs found that building their energy know-how was more straightforward than ensuring they developed the essential soft skills identified above. This further emphasises the importance of recruiting people with the right social skills.
Click through to read more blogs related to ‘Getting Started’.
- Summary of energy solidarity tools
- Energy solidarity to tackle energy poverty
- Aligning community needs and EC capacity
- Putting energy solidarity into practise
- The Energy Solidarity Toolkit
- Assigning roles: staff or volunteers
- An evolving role for energy communities
- Understanding energy poverty, broadly and in local contexts