Struggling Isle of Wight residents are receiving critical advice about how to save money on their energy bills thanks to a National Lottery-funded project supporting communities bearing the brunt of the cost-of-living pressures.
The Footprint Trust works to reduce the ecological footprint of the Isle of Wight and works with households to help people in fuel poverty to stay warm, well and out of debt, by raising awareness regarding more efficient use of energy.
Among the services on offer are home visits, where Footprint experts will assess people’s individual needs and homes and give them advice on how to best insulate their house while reducing energy bulls, and an interactive workshop that educates residents on how to save hundreds of pounds on their energy bills.
Lisa Beaney, Outreach Manager for the Footprint Trust, believes her organisation provides an essential service to residents on the Island, without which, people’s energy bills would be significantly higher.
“On the Isle of Wight, we have some of the worst insulated properties in the country.
“The average income on the island is much lower than the mainland and with the increased costs of many things to do with living on an island, it means that people over here have far less disposable income. So the increase in energy prices has really hit home hard.
“Thanks to the Trust people can actually afford to keep their heating on and running. They can afford to eat at the same time.
“When we do home visits and leave people in a home that is warmer, know that they can operate the heating controls properly and afford to go and buy the food that their children need because they’ve cut down on their energy, that makes a real difference.”
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Lisa believes that if it were not for The Footprint Trust, Islanders would be feeling the effects of the economic climate to an even greater extent:
“I think you would see people’s health deteriorate rapidly if our support wasn’t available.
“There would be more people going hungry. I know it sounds dramatic, but we are getting to a point now where we’ve got more and more people relying on food banks.
“Without the additional health and support that we provide, that number would increase.
“We talk to people that are becoming suicidal because they can’t see any way out of the situation they’re in. It’s quite frightening.
“The National Lottery has helped enormously. Without their funding, our support wouldn’t be there.
“For projects like ours, the funding is absolutely vital and to carry on receiving it is amazing.”
National Lottery players raise more than £30 million a week for arts, education, environment, health, heritage, sport, and voluntary projects across the UK; see the difference it’s making near you at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk.
