SUITE, a project to improve energy assistance to vulnerable families in Barcelona

Submitted by Francesc Ribera on 23 August 2021

Suite ECCP - News

· This European project, in which the CEEC has participated by creating a bridge of contact between the private, public and civil society sectors, aims to scale the ASSIST model, another pioneering project to combat energy poverty that has served more than 100 professionals and 500 users in Barcelona.

· Ecoserveis, a CEEC partner, will deploy a new referral system and a virtual office in the Barcelona region for Home Care and telecare services in the field of energy poverty.

SUITE, one of 7 projects funded by the European Social Catalyst Fund (ESCF), is an initiative designed to have a significant impact on some of Europe’s most pressing social challenges. SUITE aims to design a strategy to scale the innovative ASSIST model, funded by the H2020 program, which aimed to reduce energy poverty by providing training and creating a network of social workers with an emotional bond with those affected. SUITE now raises the scalability of this model by designing five scalability plans in five European countries, three of which have previously participated in the ASSIST project (Italy, Poland and Spain) and two new countries that are now joining (Hungary and Romania).

In Catalonia, the ASSIST model was tested through pilots with the professionals of the Home Care Service (SAD) of Barcelona and the Maresme and with the telecare professionals of the Diputació de Barcelona, ​​between the years 2018 and 2020. a total of 134 SAD and telecare professionals were trained resulting in the advice of 313 households, reaching 584 beneficiaries with direct actions.

Given the success of the ASSIST project, we want to continue a model that gave good results for the fight against energy poverty in the territory, which highlighted the importance of the relational link between users and social operators, a link that gives confidence to users when making advice both in person and by phone. The aim is to reach more users in a situation or at risk of energy poverty or vulnerability, again with SAD and telecare professionals, but this time in the whole of Barcelona.

Thus, through the SUITE, a model of public-private collaboration has been designed where, on the one hand, SAD and telecare professionals will be trained so that they can detect cases of energy poverty and harmonized protocols will be designed for both detection and by the derivation of cases of energy poverty. On the other hand, a virtual office will be created to which SAD and telecare professionals can refer cases, as long as there is no specialized service in the municipality to refer the detected cases. Thus, through this energy poverty office, it will be possible to provide energy advisory services to all people who need it in the Barcelona region.

In Catalonia, Ecoserveis (energy consultancy, with experience in energy poverty and coordinator of the project) and the Efficient Energy Cluster of Catalonia (business group, which provides a bridge between the private sector, the public sector and citizens) work together for development of a solid and viable plan. Thus, it is intended to begin implementation in January 2022 and in the meantime continue with the relevant negotiations and agreements.

The project began in February 2021 and ends in September 2021, the month in which the results of the project will be presented at European level at the event organized by Sustainable Places on September 29, 2021. The European Social Catalyst Fund donated € 79,900.00 to the consortium.

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