A project which will help vulnerable people living in fuel poverty in the South West of Scotland has been given a £100,000 boost from the ScottishPower Energy People Trust.

The Trust has made the grant to the Energy Agency to fund a scheme which will reach people who miss out on mainstream support initiatives by a small margin but who are still in need of help.

The initiative will help to replace non-operational or inefficient domestic heating systems for approximately 100 people.

It will also tackle fuel poverty by offering energy efficiency advice and will make appropriate referrals to insulation schemes and income maximisations services.

Ann Loughrey, ScottishPower’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and The ScottishPower Energy People Trust’s Company Secretary, said: “We are delighted to be able to assist this project. The work being done by the Energy Agency has made a significant difference already to the lives of people living in the South West of Scotland.

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"This scheme will help to ensure that people who may otherwise have slipped through the cracks will now receive the help that they need. This is exactly the kind of project the ScotitshPower Energy People Trust is keen to help.”

The ScottishPower Energy People Trust was established in November 2005 to fund not-for-profit organisations that help vulnerable people including families, young people, the disabled and the elderly who need to spend more than 10% of their income on energy bills.

The Energy Agency was established in February 1999 as South Ayrshire Energy Agency. It began as an innovative project using a combination of European Union and Local Authority funding.

The Energy Agency won a competitive bidding process to operate an Energy Efficiency Advice Centre for Energy Saving Trust in 2000, covering south west Scotland.

In 2008 the Energy Agency successfully bid for a contract to establish and manage the Energy Saving Scotland advice centre south west.

Liz Marquis, Director of the Energy Agency, said: "We are very grateful to the Scottish Power Energy People Trust for their support for the Sustainable Heat at Realistic Prices (SHARP) project. Through this project we are able to help some of the most vulnerable members of our community insulate their homes adequately and replace old inefficient heating systems with new fuel efficient ones.

"This not only saves them money on fuel costs but improves the quality of their lives and contributes to global reduction in carbon emissions."

So far, the ScottishPower Energy People Trust has awarded over £7m to 148 projects helping over 824,000 individuals in over 620,000 households throughout Britain.

(GK/BMcC)