For thousands of families, the electricity bill continues to be very difficult to understand. Contracted power, energy term, tolls, taxes and tariff periods. Not understanding these concepts can be expensive. To help facilitate the task, the Naturgy Foundation Energy School has a training program that teaches how to interpret invoices, review contracts, request the social bonus and adopt habits that reduce consumption.
A very wide network
The Naturgy School works mainly with city councils, is present in nearly 1,000 municipalities and has already trained more than 45,500 people in efficient consumption and energy law. In some councils it also maintains a periodic advisory service, assists the vulnerable population regarding their consumption and their bill and accompanies them to improve contracting and habits.
The School is a piece that fits within the Foundation’s Energy Vulnerability Plan, which has more than 355,000 beneficiaries since 2017. Within it, the Energy Rehabilitation Solidarity Fund stands out, which since 2018 has carried out express rehabilitations in 5,920 vulnerable homes and residential centers. The range is completed by projects such as photovoltaic installations whose savings are reinvested in vulnerable groups, or “Energy Recipe”, which transforms energy savings into aid for patients with high electricity consumption at home.
The School in Valencia and Galicia
This year, the Adding Energies for Valencia Plan has doubled the activity in the Valencian Community, with 89 workshops aimed mostly at families, both in municipalities affected by DANA and in the rest of the community. The School has also taught courses for vocational training teachers, for unemployed people assisted by the Benito Menni Foundation and for vulnerable women accompanied by the Madrina Foundation. In these last two cases, the goal was to improve their training and employment opportunities.
Galicia is one of the territories where the program has the most roots. Since 2017, the Energy School has given more than 500 training sessions in 180 Galician municipalities. More than 5,000 people have passed through its classrooms.
The profile of those participating reveals the social scope of the project. 79% are families in a situation of energy poverty. The remaining 21% is made up of professionals from the social field, workers and technicians who accompany these homes and receive specific training to later transfer what they have learned. This two-way channel multiplies the impact, each trained professional becomes a transmitter of knowledge and allows the information to reach many more homes than can fit in a workshop.
The sessions are organized around three immediately applicable learnings. The first is to interpret the electricity and gas bills and check if the contract can be changed to pay less. The second consists of knowing the social bonus, knowing who is entitled to it and how to request it, a bureaucratic issue that continues to raise barriers. The third focuses on incorporating efficiency habits in each room and appliance in the home to maintain comfort with lower energy consumption.
Average savings of 467 euros per year
The Naturgy Foundation followed the evolution of a group of participants after the workshops. According to their results, the average savings on the energy bill reached 467 euros per year. At the same time, the proportion of participants who accessed the social bonus went from 12% before the training to 55% after.
In a vulnerable home, 467 euros can be equivalent to several months of bills, the purchase of school supplies or keeping the heating on during the winter. The jump in access to the social bonus also points to an information gap. Many families met the requirements to receive aid, but were unaware of this right or did not know how to process it.
Energy saving is usually seen as a simple domestic gesture, but its effects go far beyond the receipt, it frees up resources in households with less income, which allocate a larger part of their budget to energy; protects health and well-being, because a cold house in winter or a stifling house in summer punishes the elderly, children and chronically ill people above all; reduces emissions, since the cleanest energy is that which is not consumed; and makes the system more resilient, by relieving the network during peak demand and reducing external dependence. In addition, it does not require large investments, adjusting the power, taking advantage of the cheapest hours, choosing efficient appliances or avoiding standby consumption is within the reach of almost anyone; What is missing, many times, is knowing that it exists.
A just transition
Naturgy Foundation frames this work in its commitment to a fair energy transition. The idea is that the change towards a more sustainable model also improves people’s quality of life, with special attention to the most vulnerable and their access to affordable, safe and sustainable energy. To achieve this objective, the Foundation forges alliances with third sector entities, educational centers, universities, companies and administrations.