Shropshire park home owner's anger over energy fund change - BBC News

Response to the above article from Charis

From Jonathan Hunt, director of client services, Charis

The recent story outlining the experience of Nick Flatters in his attempts to access financial support to help alleviate his prohibitive fuel costs highlights the massive challenges faced by consumers living ‘off grid'.

No one should feel like a "second class citizen" but Mr Flatters' observations are absolutely accurate. Recent research has shown that as many as 80% of park homes residents are over the age of 65, typically on restricted incomes, who have often missed out on financial support.  This is a timely opportunity to remind park home residents that the Charis Park Homes Warm Home Discount is indeed about the be launched, providing help with energy bills during the cost of living crisis.

Nevertheless, Charis acknowledges that more does still need to be done by the government, utility companies and the wider private sector to ensure collectively that off grid communities are more proactively included by the financial support infrastructure available to the average consumer.

The challenge in administering the money to park home residents is primarily down to the fact that generally they do not have a direct relationship with the utility supplier. Instead, their bills are paid direct to the site management or owner, who has a business account with their chosen utility provider.

The Park Homes Warm Home Discount scheme has actually been running since 2015. Charis was approached by Ofgem to create a scheme which directly targeted Park Home residents because of their ineligibility for the standard Warm Home Discount rebates which launched in 2011. We have been running the scheme every year since.

Our biggest concern going forward is to encourage more utility suppliers to contribute towards the scheme. This requires a significant mindset shift in terms of the relationship between the park home resident and the energy supplier. Because most park home sites have a ‘business' relationship with the site owners, rather than an individual relationship with the individual park home owner, the parameters for supporting the scheme are different. This is an aspect that needs examining and changing.

It is crucial that details about the scheme are communicated to these residents in advance of the release date, and Charis accordingly liaises closely with the British Holiday & Home Parks Association (BH&HPA), the National Association of Park Homes Residents (NAPHR), and the Scottish Confederation of Park Home Residents Associations (SCOPHRA).

The details for the scheme are below. We are currently waiting for confirmation on the release date from Ofgem.

Park Homes | Warm Home Discount Scheme | Charis (charisgrants.com)

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If you would like to talk to Jonathan Hunt in more detail about the Park Homes Warm Home Discount scheme, please contact:

Kate Ashley-Norman

i3MEDIA Ltd

T: 01733 890836

E: kate@i3media.net