ASSISTS

ASSIST – Support Network for Household Energy Saving

ASSIST is a European project to help support vulnerable consumers in the efficient management of energy consumption at home and more generally to contribute to the fight against energy poverty.

Specifically, ASSIST aims to contribute to the fight against the growing phenomenon of energy poverty through the definition and creation of the ASSIST model to provide support to vulnerable consumers in the management of energy consumption at home through a dedicated professional figure: ASSIST Consultants (consultants for domestic energy consumption). The project provides for the training – networking – action of ASSIST Consultants. To achieve its goal of supporting the vulnerable and fighting energy poverty, ASSIST also aims to to raise awareness among political and institutional actors on the issues of the initiative through the creation of a Scientific Committee composed of the main actors of the national socio-energy sector that will work in close collaboration with the partners and will provide support to convey not only the evidence collected and the results obtained by the project but also suggestions and conclusions on possible future actions and guidelines to define the political agenda.

ASSIST (contract number 754051, previously called 2gether4vulnerability) approved under the European innovation and research program Horizon2020, precisely in the topic “Engaging private consumers towards sustainable energy” (EE-06-2016-2017) of the call H2020-EE-2016-2017, was launched on May 1, 2017 and will take place over a period of 36 months

Objective

ASSIST aims to help support vulnerable consumers in the efficient management of energy consumption at home and more generally to contribute to the fight against energy poverty through the provision of assistance to vulnerable consumers on domestic energy consumption by properly trained expert personnel.

Specifically, ASSIST aims to provide support to vulnerable consumers in the management of residential energy consumption through:

– the definition and training of a specialized professional figure called ASSIST Consultant;

– the creation of a network on the national and European territory of trained ASSIST Consultants (ASSISTNetwork).

In other words, ASSIST aims to create the professional profile, in terms of competences/knowledge/skills, of the ASSIST Consultant and to train him adequately to acquire the necessary skills/knowledge/abilities and, subsequently, to coordinate the work of the network of ASSIST Consultants trained at national level to assist consumers in their daily management of energy consumption.

In all the countries involved, starting from a detailed analysis of the national context on the state of vulnerability and the fight against energy poverty, the foundations will be laid for a European definition of vulnerable consumers and for the identification of best practices that can be transferred and replicated in all European realities. The analysis includes both on-desk study and evaluation activities and market analysis through consumer questionnaires and in-depth interviews with selected key actors and will focus on financial measures to support vulnerable consumers to meet their energy needs, their use and impact, on initiatives carried out or in place to support vulnerable consumers at national and European level and on studies and research carried out or underway to identify and quantify the economic-social-energy parameters for the definition of vulnerable consumers / energy poverty.

In parallel with the analysis of the national context and subsequently on the basis of the national framework outlined, the matrix of knowledge, skills and competencies (KSC) necessary for the ASSIST Consultant to be able to effectively assist vulnerable consumers will be defined, thus combining energy and social topics (an innovative figure currently not envisaged in both the social and energy sectors). On the basis of the aforementioned matrix, define the characteristics of the training course that ASSIST Consultants must undertake, in terms of the overall duration of the training course, course contents and their subdivision into training modules, the evaluation system of incoming knowledge (and possibly criteria for not being able to follow a certain module if the knowledge transferred by the module is already verifiably acquired) and the knowledge evaluation system outgoing. The training course will be delivered, also through a distance learning platform (the implementation of which is in fact planned), with the aim of training 75 ASSIST Consultants in each country involved in the project.

The qualification scheme of the ASSIST Consultant, together with the training and qualification system, will also be presented to the bodies responsible for professional training and qualification with the aim of including the professional figure of the ASSIST Consultant and the related training course within the national repertoire of professions (or regional where, as in Italy, training is delegated at regional level).

The trained ASSIST Consultants will merge into the national networks – ASSIST Network – which aims to unite all those dedicated to supporting vulnerable consumers in the management of energy at home. Thanks to an IT system that will be implemented, the Consultants will be able to take advantage of continuous training and stay constantly updated on the topics of interest and also share among themselves, but also with the teachers of the training course and with the members of the Scientific Committee, direct professional experiences and useful information relating to their activities in support of vulnerable consumers.

ASSIST Partners

AISFOR srl (AISFOR) – Italy – Marina Varvesi – varvesi@aisfor.it

Research on the Energy System SPA (RSE) – Italy

Acquirente Unico SPA (AU) – Italy

Asociación Ecoserveis (ECOSERVEIS) – Spain

Alginet Distribución Energia Electrica Sociedad Limitada (ADEE) – Spain

Severn Wye Energy Agency Ltd (SWEA) – United Kingdom

Federacja Knonsumentow Stowarzyszenie (FK) – Poland

Krajowa Agencja Poszanowania Energii Spolka Akcyna (KAPE) – Poland

Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek N.V. (VITO) – Belgium

Eandis cvba (Eandis) – Belgium

VaasaETT Ltd ab oy (VAASAETT) – Finland

Réseau Européen des Associations de Lutte contre la Pauvrete er l’Exclusion Sociale AISBL (EAPN) – Belgium

Planned activities

In each country, with the support of the members of the Scientific Committee and on the basis of the results of the national context analyses conducted, a pilot action will be defined – ASSIST action – that the members of the network of ASSIST Consultants (i.e. the trained Consultants) will carry out on the national territory (the geographical dimension of the action will be one of the criteria to be defined together with the type of support, delivery and monitoring methods). The objective of the ASSIST action will serve to test in the field the effectiveness of this professional figure in terms of the ability to dialogue with vulnerable consumers and effectively provide them with support to better manage energy consumption in order to fully meet their energy needs in the home. The action will also serve to verify and test possible models of sustainability of the network.

It is hoped that thanks to the daily work of the ASSIST Consultants it will be possible to achieve a reduction in energy consumption of 2% of the people assisted and thanks to the action of ASSIST by the ASSIST Consultants it will be possible to achieve a reduction of 7%.

In line with the project’s objective of helping to support vulnerable consumers in the efficient management of energy consumption at home and more generally to contribute to the fight against energy poverty, activities of a more political nature will be carried out throughout the project in order to raise awareness among key actors on the project issues and encourage the inclusion of these issues within national and European political agendas and plans. In addition to the creation of the Scientific Committee, which will meet 3 times during the implementation of the project, 3 national workshops will be organized with the participation of national actors from the energy and social sectors to discuss the themes of the project and possible future actions to be implemented to help reduce the phenomenon of energy poverty. At the end of the project, the European report on the “Vulnerable Consumers Protection Paper” will be produced containing current and future national and European policies (based on real testimonies) for the support of the vulnerable.

The project is completed by communication and awareness-raising actions aimed directly at vulnerable consumers to make them aware of the network of ASSIST Consultants, the action of ASSIST and invite them to take part. In addition to the creation of information and communication material created for the specific target of consumers, an IT platform will also be created where the consumer can find practical information to help him in his path to energy consumption efficiency, a platform that represents an “energy first step point” for the consumers themselves. There will also be the possibility of registering on this platform so as to have access to more specific content, direct communication to ASSIST Consultants and also participation in consumer forums on energy and social issues. The organization of two national events aimed at consumers is also planned with the participation of about 50 – 100 people at each event.

Expected results

– The detailed picture in Europe relating to energy poverty, from the financial measures available and disbursed to the public-private initiatives implemented, to the analysis of the consumer market

– The networking of all the subjects operating on the national territory to help reduce energy poverty

– The selection and training of people to provide them with the skills/knowledge/skills to provide support to vulnerable consumers regarding their energy consumption at home

– The creation of national networks for the implementation of actions on the ground to provide consumer assistance in practice to at least 750 consumers

– The creation of a national committee to dialogue and share at national and European level the situation relating to energy poverty and possible solutions

– The creation of a portal for consumers where they can find all the information they need to learn more about energy efficiency

– The organization of 2 European events to promote the discussion at European level by policy-makers on the issue of energy poverty