Background to the programme
CLER, a network for energy transition, has coordinated the European project Achieve (2011-2014) which enabled home visits to households in fuel poverty to be carried out in France and more than 1900 in Europe. It also relied on a comparative analysis of measures which fight against fuel poverty, written by energy sociologists, that recommends systematic visits to the homes of households in energy poverty. Buoyed by this feedback, as co-organiser of the RAPPEL (REMINDER) network, CLER proposed the rolling out of the SLIME program with national coordination and the eligibility of energy saving certificates.
Objectives of the programme
The objective of a SLIME is to respond quickly and significantly with households in difficulty as regards their energy management. The SLIME measures seek to:
- Identify households in fuel poverty by organising a detection chain
- Help these households to reduce their consumption and their energy and water bills
- Organise the chain of actors to even propose solutions on a case by case basis.
A community that directs a SLIME program implements the following actions.
- Educate and involve the local "alarm raisers" by providing them with a simple reporting procedure
- Conduct home visits to identify the households concerned and provide them with free advice and small pieces of equipment to save on water and energy
- Direct households towards local and sustainable solutions which enable them to get out of fuel poverty
- To mobilise and involve local actors through a SLIME facilitator designated by the community
Quantitative and qualitative results from the implemented actions
At the end of 2014: 22 communities have directed a SLIME program. They are :
- Local Councils: Gers, Lot, Bas-Rhin, Jura, Aude, Pas-de-Calais, Herault
- Agglomeration Communities: Cape Calais, Pays de Romans, Montbéliard
- Federation of Municipalities: Lamballe Community Lodévois-Larzac, Black Mountain
- CCAS: Liffré and Saint-Etienne
- Urban Community: Brest Métropole Océane
- Cities: Bordeaux, Ganges, Loos-en-Gohelle, Montfermeil, St. Stephen
- Réunion Regional Council
In 2015, the General Council of Maine et Loire and the City of Mureaux also will start a SLIME program.
These measures represent a total expenditure of €2.7 million in the fight against fuel poverty. At the end of 2013: nearly 500 households have received a home visit. In total, that's nearly 7,000 home visits that are scheduled for the period 2013/2014.
SLIME was built out of existing measures. Its methodology is not therefore original although its effectiveness is tried and tested.
By only making local authorities eligible for the program, CLER wanted to ensure that the SLIME program went beyond the stage of home visits and that the device could become a real tool for regional organisation in the fight against energy poverty.
Partnership(s) developed in the context of the programme
At the local level, the communities work with many actors who differ according to the region and might be: the CCAS, the organisations managing energy information spaces, the housing operators of Anah, the consumer associations, actors in self-rehabilitation...
At the national level, CLER runs a monitoring committee which brings together ADEME, DGEC, ANAH, the Abbé Pierre Foundation (who also supports SLIME locally), the Assembly of French Departments, the Association of French Regions and 2 sociologists of energy.
Difficulties and/or obstacles encountered during the programme’s implementation :
Communities can face difficulties at every stage of the SLIME program (identification, socio-technical assessment, direction).
With regard to identification, social workers (the first involved in raising the alarm) sometimes lack the time and interest in the subject. To educate a variety of alarm raisers is a tedious and repetitive job to which the organisers must consecrate a lot of time, skill and energy. The health sector, for example, is difficult to reach, while these workers are in contact with the households targeted by the program.
The socio-technical assessment is a new activity to develop and professionalise the program on a large scale so that communities and their partners can rely on recognised expertise.
For the guidance, it's about linking the household to the recommended solution. The main difficulty is not identifying solutions but their rarity and their unsuitability for situations in certain regions.
From CLER's perspective, we are working so that more and more communities join the SLIME program. Apart from the motivation of communities to participate (the program is implemented on a voluntary basis), the main lever is financial. The value of energy saving certificates is reducing considerably (about 20% of the communities expenditure was reimbursed through the program in 2014 compared to 30% at the end of 2012). The CEE acceptance rate is almost 4 times lower for the SLIME program when compared to other programs while the program is for the most vulnerable households.
Solutions used to overcome the difficulties and/or obstacles :
The first responses taken by CLER are:
- The organisation of an annual seminar to provide a space to feedback on good practices and share experiences with operational communities and partners.
- The design and distribute national training on socio-technical assessment. 29 trainers have the ability to train those responsible for visits throughout France
- The provision of software to track and manage home visits (being launched)
- An appeal to senior management on climate energy for better promotion of CEE products as part of the SLIME program.
- The formalisation of feedback, of a qualitative and quantitative assessment and concrete procedures for implementation by means of a website (with tool box) and a getting started paper guide.
Suggestions for future improvement :
- Offer a module on awareness of fuel poverty for those who raise the alarm.
- Develop distribution partnerships with organisations linked to the communities (eg community associations)
Summary of factors responsible for the programme’s success :
- The financial lever linked to the energy saving certificates.
- A complementary (and not supplementary) methodology for existing measures
- Provision of a hotline to launch the program
- Flexible methodology that enables communities to adapt the device to their local context and existing actions
- Presence of a monitoring committee (see paragraph 6), which brings together experts on the issue of energy poverty and helps to build a strategic vision for the development of SLIME.
Ideas for basic or applied research topics, that could be useful to the programme :
The mobilisation of the alarm raisers: we do it in an intuitive way, with tools and arguments, which must be adapted to the different audiences. We need to find arguments depending on the type of alarm raiser, the special skills on the part of the facilitator (during the education time), to identify the frequency and the method for the alarm raiser to take ownership of SLIME.
Beslay C., Gournet R., M. zelem-C, Mr. Huze-H, R. Cyssau "An analysis of socio-technical as compared to other measures to reduce fuel poverty situations and the building of targeted intervention strategies". « Analyse socio-technique comparée des dispositifs de réductions des situations de précarité énergétique et construction de stratégies d’intervention ciblées » Programme PREBAT ADEME-PUCA. (2010)