The ECOE team holds two awards won at the Community Energy England ceremony
Exeter Community Energy (ECOE) is a double winner at this year’s UK annual Community Energy Awards. ECOE collected the Progress in Expansion and Community Energy Organisation of the Year (Large) awards, primarily reflecting its Healthy Homes for Wellbeing scheme, which has helped people far beyond the reaches of Exeter live better lives.
The Community Energy Organisation of the Year (Large) award celebrates ECOE’s focus on connecting communities and including everyone. It shows ECOE’s hard work helping fuel-poor people cut their bills and make their homes warmer. Our 40-plus-strong team provide practical energy-saving and other general advice at clinics, in homes and over the phone. Actions as simple as lending someone a heater so that a hospital can be confident of discharging a patient to a warm home make a massive difference.
Last week, a loaned heater helped a Newton Abbot man return safely to the comfort of his house, freeing a hospital bed. This is part of how ECOE works with six Devon Primary Care Networks to address fuel poverty’s impact on patients with chronic respiratory illnesses in areas such as Mid Devon, Teignbridge, and Torbay. This programme has so far reached 352 patients.
Many other such partners have helped ECOE grow remarkably. Its income has risen from £153,676 in 2019-2020 to £994,804 in 2023-2024. This funding is an investment that pays off for local residents, with their total savings on energy costs increasing by 67% to £2.72 million in the last year.
Enter retrofit
The Progress in Expansion Award recognises ECOE’s successful inclusion of more households, both among fuel poor and those who can pay for more efficient homes. That includes a newly-launched Paid-For Retrofit Advice Service, helping able-to-pay residents plan how to cut their energy use. ECOE is responding to its expansion by setting up a separate charity operating under the ECOE Advice brand.
“We are incredibly honoured to be recognised for the work we do and would like to express our gratitude to everyone who has supported us on this journey,” said Tara Bowers, co-CEO of ECOE Advice. “Our dedicated and ambitious team remain focused on contributing to a brighter, more sustainable future for all.”
ECOE was also shortlisted for the Community Engagement and Inclusion category, which acknowledges ECOE’s mission to provide vital energy-saving guidance to those who need it most.
The awards and shortlisting reward the dedication and hard work of ECOE Advice’s team, its partners, and the communities it serves. Together, they drive real, lasting change to help households facing rising energy costs and to fight global heating.
From left to right, ECOE Advice co-CEO Hannah Devine-Wright, ECOE Advice Community Engagement Lead Torbay Sarah Reeves, ECOE Advice co-CEO Tara Bowers and ECOE chair David Bacon.
Continued success
These are the seventh and eighth awards in four years for the Healthy Homes team. In 2023, the team helped ECOE win the Community Energy England Fuel Poverty Action and Community Engagement and Inclusion Awards.
In 2022, ECOE won the Community Group/Charity/Non-Profit category in the Exeter Sustainability Awards. Also, that year ECOE won the Community Energy Initiative category at the UK Green Energy Awards.
Healthy Homes won the Southwest Energy Efficiency Award 2020/21 for outstanding vulnerable customer support.
In April 2020, Tara Bowers won a national Heat Hero award. That recognised her achievements going above and beyond in her work to help keep people warm in their homes.
