Decision

To award the Customer Journey support contract for Stratford-on-Avon DC funded Warm Homes Local Grant installations to Act On Energy. The cost of this contract for the period Oct 26 to Mar 28 is up to £40,000.

Reasons for the decision

The Warm Homes Local Grant (WHLG) is a Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) funded programme which runs from April 2025 for at least three years. The DESNZ funding is administered through a consortia - Midlands Net Zero Hub (MNZH). In addition to the DESNZ funding The Council has supplemented the three-year £900,000 allocation from DESNZ by awarding additional funding of £1.1m to the WHLG programme.

In order to support our residents through the application, eligibility and post installation process, MNZH have appointed Act On Energy to deliver the Customer Journey Support (CJS) contract for the DESNZ funded portion of the grant. These CJS services were procured through a competitive tender process through which AOE was awarded the CJS contract by MNZH for several regional Local Authorities.

The cost of this activity is £40,000 which will be drawn down from the £1.1m which is funding the entirety of this activity.  The contract value was determined in line with the existing MNZH contract however a small number of additional services that enhance the customer experience and SDC assurance have also been procured through this exercise.  This includes up to 57 home visits.

In order to maintain consistency across all of the funding streams and deliver operational efficiency, it is vital to keep the provider of these services the same regardless of which funding stream is being used for a resident’s property. This will ensure an equivalent degree of Customer Journey Support is delivered to SDC funded installations receiving a WHLG as to DESNZ funded properties.

Introducing a different provider would entail a high level of operational complexity as all customers apply for the grant using the same mechanism and are not separated into different funding streams until after eligibility checks are completed.

Due to their existing work and experience working in the district offering energy support for over 25 years we feel that AOE are best placed to deliver this work.  Their existing working relationship with our delivery partners EON.

Alternative options considered

Consideration was given to putting this contract out to tender but was found to offer too much complexity given the reasons above.