Second heat exchange launched in Hackney to help people donate their energy rebates to neighbours

Cllr Penny Wrout. Photograph: Hackney Labour

A new heat exchange is being launched in Hackney to help residents donate their £400 energy rebates to neighbours struggling with their bills.

Cllr Penny Wrout said she was inspired by De Beauvoir residents, who have raised more than £3,500 through their own heat exchange, to set up something similar in Victoria and Wick.

She said some people on fixed tariffs could find their energy bills dropping while others are worried about the spike in fuel costs.

Every household is getting £400 from the government in six monthly installments of £66. Residents over the age of 66 will also get up to £600 as a winter fuel allowance.

Cllr Wrout said some residents want to use the money to help others.

“There are people who are better placed to help others,” she explained. “We are a tight community.”

She’s enlisted the help of the Well Street Common Neighbourhood Area to help distribute any money raised to people of all ages.

Cllr Wrout said: “I’m anxious that only people who can really afford to contribute make a donation.  Times are tough for lots of us because it’s not just the cost of fuel but inflation that is forcing up food, rent and mortgage payments.

“Even so, some in our neighbourhood are on fixed tariffs from their gas and electricity suppliers so may not immediately face the energy price hikes, while others are high earners.

“I’m hoping they’ll see the heat exchange as an effective way to support their wider community.”

The scheme is organised through the Fuel Bank Foundation and donations are topped up by Gift Aid, which means £10 is boosted to £12 and a £30 donation becomes £37.50.

The Victoria & Wick Hackney Heat Exchange can be found here.

Cllr Wrout said: “I’m really worried that people are going to be sitting in the cold with extra jumpers on.

“When you see people who are really suffering and struggling, you want to help them directly.”

It has emerged that Hackney residents are entitled to £12.3m in unclaimed pensions credit a year – the highest in London – just above Lambeth and Southwark.

It means nearly 700 households are “losing out by about £300 a month”, according to Chris Kennedy, the cabinet member for health and adult social care.

He said the council’s customer services team discovered “some reluctance to accept pension credit from older people who are very proud to have managed their lives up to now without benefits”.

Hackney has just launched a Money Hub to help people get the benefits they are entitled to and deal with bills.

The De Beauvoir heat exchange is urging more people to contribute their fuel payments if they can, saying “much more will be needed as the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit many in our community”.