Providing energy-related advice to householders and communities has a critical role in ensuring the success of many of the UK policies and programmes associated with reducing UK greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 and eradicating fuel poverty by 2016.

It is widely recognised that the advice provision landscape is becoming more complex as an increasingly diverse set of organisations provide energy related information and advice. From a householder perspective this can create confusion around who to turn to for advice as well as uncertainty around the impartiality of the service given.

Both the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) now include energy advice as an eligible measure for achieving a proportion of their targets.

The group is the only forum of expert practitioners from all the major types of energy saving advice provider organisations within the domestic housing sector with a strategic focus on improving the effectiveness of advice provision.

The key piece of work by the group in 2009/10 was the development of a strategic review and recommendations for the role of the UK¿s advice sector. This involved staging a workshop in October 2009 considering a number of issues: quality and consistency across the range of advice providers; different ways in which advice is delivered; roles of the various organisations involved in advice provision; and how coordination could be improved and the balance between telephone-based, in-home, face-to-face, and online advice.
 
In February 2010 the group finalised its strategic review. The work, which secured widespread consensus from Government and stakeholders, reviewed the current and future role and need for advice to consumers, issues in regard to current provision, and concluded options for improvement. The strategic options for the comprehensive provision of advice through all channels of contact with consumers were presented to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to inform the department¿s HEM (Household Energy Management) strategy published in March. Many of the key recommendations in the report were included in HEM: the need for a professional code under a single quality mark; the need for a central provider of resources and expertise; a re-evaluation of skills requirements and provision of ongoing skills support; and the need for a single, modular accreditation framework encompassing individuals and organisations providing advice in different circumstances.

In 2010/11 the group will continue to work closely with Government to provide expert knowledge and experience into the further development of the Government¿s advice strategy and aid the facilitation and coordination of its effective implementation.