Homeowners and community groups across the Scottish Hydro Electric licence area can access funding support for new electricity connections, courtesy of the Scottish Hydro Electric Community Trust.

Established in 1998 by Scottish Hydro Electric plc (now SSE plc), the independent charitable trust is offering financial assistance to both individuals and community organisations with charitable status to help cover the costs of connecting to the electricity network.

The Trust is prepared to fund up to 75% of connection expenses for successful community projects and up to 50% for individual domestic connections. As a registered charity, applications for domestic connections will be subject to a means-testing process.

The deadline for the current round of applications is Wednesday 14 May 2025. Following this, applications will be reviewed by the Trustees on a quarterly basis.

David Telford, Chairman of the Trust, highlighted the significant impact of the funding: "In the last year we awarded over £110,000 of grants in support of the cost of new connections to the electricity network throughout SSEN's Scottish distribution area... with £16,300 of this total awarded to community projects providing significant benefit to their local communities. The Trust was initially set up to help those facing challenges connecting to the electricity network, particularly in some of our more rural mainland and island communities and we're delighted to continue providing this vital support, both to individuals and to community groups nearly 30 years later."

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Several community projects have recently benefited from the Trust's support. Muir of Ord Men's Shed received a grant to power their new social and activity workshops. Chairperson David Taylor explained: "The electrical supply is for four industrial cabins from which to form a social space, an activity space and a workshop where men over 18 can meet to enjoy social interaction and the exchange of ideas and skills."

Elgin Sports Community Trust also secured funding to provide electricity to their new pavilion at the Gleaner Arena. Chairman Dave Allen said the pavilion will "allow administration and management of additional activities at the pitches, and provide post-match analyses to be conducted for girls' teams in particular."

Auchenblae Parks Committee received a grant to connect their football pitch to the electricity grid. Projects & Funding Coordinator David Sutherland noted the importance of this for the revitalised community facility: "Phase Two of the project is to get the football pavilion connected to the grid so that we have a power source for events, eventual electrification of the groundkeeping equipment and exit lights which we cannot do until we have the connection."

The Scottish Hydro Electric Community Trust encourages eligible individuals and community groups within the specified Scottish licence area to apply for this valuable funding support.