Health Through Warmth

As part of our commitment to targeting support for the most vulnerable, in 2000 we set up the Health Through Warmth (HTW) scheme to find people living in cold, damp homes and then to help them by installing energy efficiency measures and heating (including insulation and energy efficient boilers).

Since 2000, we’ve accessed over £41 million helping vulnerable people affected by these poor conditions. The scheme helps people of any age - and they don’t have to be an npower customer.

As part of the HTW scheme, we work closely with the National Health Service (NHS), local authorities, Home Improvement and Care & Repair agencies, and National Energy Action in 14 areas across England and Wales.

How it works

Often the people who are most in need are hard to reach or unaware that they can get help. So since 2000, the scheme has trained 17,075 key community workers to identify the most vulnerable people and refer them to the HTW team.

Once someone is referred to us, the HTW co-ordinators access statutory national grant schemes and other locally available funds. If they’re not eligible for these, the team looks for funding from charitable organisations on their behalf and, depending on their circumstances, they could also get help from our npower HTW crisis fund.

2008

In 2008, 7,927 households were referred to the scheme and we helped our HTW clients access over £7.3 million of extra resources from external partners. We expanded the scheme and launched HTW in Swindon – in partnership with Swindon Borough Council, Swindon Primary Care Trust and Ridgeway Care and Repair agency and also in Telford in partnership with Telford and Wrekin Council.

We also increased awareness of HTW with our Cold Bus. Inside this specially converted double-decker bus, visitors got to feel the kind of cold, damp living conditions which put vulnerable people at risk, before seeing the type of measures provided by the scheme to create a warmer, more comfortable home, helping to improve quality of life.