Home Heat Helpline launches Welsh advice guide on how to have a warmer winter

19th February 2007

• New Welsh language guide launched to help households access support and advice on heating their home
  
• Guides contain hints and tips on keeping warm this winter

With winter in full swing across Wales the Home Heat Helpline (0800 33 66 99) today launched a new Welsh language guide on how to keep warm this winter.

More than 1 in 10 Welsh households are estimated to live in fuel poverty and are spending more than 10 per cent of their income just keeping warm. It is therefore critical that households are able to get the advice they need to keep warm during the cold weather. The Home Heat Helpline guide explains how, by taking very simple steps, households can heat their home more efficiently and pay less for their fuel bills.

The new Welsh guide is available from the Home Heat Helpline website (www.homeheathelpline.org) or by calling the Helpline on 0800 33 66 99. For households whose first language is Welsh and who would like advice and information on keeping warm, the Helpline is calling on them to phone this number and speak to a qualified advisor using a Welsh interpreter through the Language Line facility.

The new guide follows a poster campaign launched last month. The Welsh language posters were sent to Communities First coordinators, GPs surgeries, churches and chapels, libraries, Sure Start centres, community centres, hospital out patients departments and other venues where people who might worry about having trouble paying bills can see them and find out how to call the Helpline direct.

The Helpline is the only service for all customers who have difficulties with heating their homes or paying for their energy bills no matter who their energy supplier is. More than 38,000 people have called the Home Heat Helpline during its first twelve months. It is staffed by expert advisors, including former health professionals who are trained to give advice on how to stay warm during cold weather.

Helpline advisors can offer advice on benefits and grants such as winter fuel payments for older people, as well as inclusion on Priority Service Registers (PSR’s) for the disabled, and tips and hints on saving energy. The Helpline can also take calls from intermediaries calling on behalf of vulnerable people, such as friends, family, carers, social workers or health visitors.

Duncan Sedgwick, Chief Executive of the Energy Retail Association comments on the new guide,

“It is vital that all Welsh households are able to access advice and support on keeping warm during the winter months. The launch of this Welsh guide is aimed at households who may feel that because Welsh is their first language they are unable to access important information on how to insulate their home and keep warm this winter. By using the new guide and taking advantage of the Language Line facility we hope that Welsh households call the helpline as soon as possible to get the support and advice they need.”

“The guide is available via the Home Heat Helpline website – www.homeheathelpline.org – and I hope that relevant charities and advice groups make use of the guides when providing advice to households worried about heating their home this winter.”

Notes to Editors

Four Communications
0870 420 3245
HHH@fourcommunications.com

Home Heat Helpline
Oliver Wright – 020 7747 5436
oliver.wright@energy-retail.org.uk

The guide is available at www.homeheathelpline.org/media
Home Heat Helpline – 0800 33 66 99

1.The Home Heat Helpline operates from Monday to Friday 9am-8pm and from 10am-2pm on Saturday. There is a free minicom number (0800 027 2122) and the Helpline also has access to interpreters for those callers whose first language is not English. www.homeheathelpline.org

2.The Helpline is operated by The essentiagroup and is staffed by expert advisers, including former health professionals, who are trained to give advice on how to stay warm during the cold weather. They are also trained and authorised to deal with intermediaries calling on behalf of vulnerable customers, such as friends, carers, social workers or health visitors

3.The Home Heat Helpline was launched by the Energy Retail Association which was established in October 2003 and is the only dedicated trade association for domestic energy suppliers in the UK. More information can be found at www.energy-retail.org.uk

4.The Home Heat Helpline is a free service for all British citizens and is funded by Britain’s six major energy suppliers which is the only telephone helpline service that aims to tackle fuel poverty. The energy suppliers spent £300 million between 2002 – 2005 on tackling fuel poverty and have committed to spend a further £700 million over the next 3 years on this important issue.