Energia in Periferia (Energy in the suburbs)

"Energy in the suburbs" is a project aiming to support struggling families living on the outskirts of cities. A limited range of families (from 50 to 100 per project), in a situation of uncomfortable living conditions linked to energy poverty, are supported through the payment of energy bills together with a one-to-one family training focused on energy savings and efficiency. The funds financing the project are given to Banco dell’energia by private companies sharing the same goals and are then transferred to local non-profit organisations – partners in the project – that use them to pay energy bills of the beneficiaries, issued by any energy operator. The same non-profit organisations identify the families to be supported.

Together with this immediate support, an activity of energy savings and efficiency education is carried out by TEDs - Tutors of Domestic Energy, a professional figure with specific skills in the energy sector aimed at meeting the needs of families experiencing a situation of energy poverty.

The project is completed with a monitoring and impact assessment of the social background in order to understand its criticalities and in order to analyse the effects of the actions taken. For this purpose, specific questionnaires are submitted anonymously to the beneficiaries in order to collect demographic data then used by scientific partners in order to issue reports on energy poverty.

The project lasts as long as the funds are available, usually from 9 to 12 months:

• Milano: from June 2021 to december 2022;
• Roma: from april 2022, still ongoing;
• Reggio Calabria: from November 2022, still ongoing

The targeted population of the project are the energy-poor and low-income households. The partners of the project are energy companies, foundations, non-profit organisations and scientific institutions. The details below

• Milano: A2A (energy company), NextEnergy foundation, Caritas Ambrosiana (NGO)
• Roma: Acea (energy company), Federconsumatori Lazio (NGO)
• Reggio Calabria: Edison (energy company), Banco Alimentare Calabria, Adiconsum Calabria, Associazione Ashiafatima  Centro di Solidarietà Alberto Marvelli, Associazione Socio-Culturale Nuova Solidarietà (NGOs).

Other partners of the project are:

• RETE ASSIST: the NGO responsible for TEDs training;
• OIPE: Italian Observatory on Energy Poverty, a scientific partner

Some results are already showing the impact of the project on supporting the families:

• Number of people reached: up to now 160
• Number of energy bills paid : up to now 400
• Funds distributed for the project: € 110.000,00