Ofgem is offering charities and community groups grants totalling £40m through the latest funding round of its energy industry voluntary redress scheme.

This uses money collected given energy firms in breach of its rules and diverts it into schemes that support vulnerable people with their energy bills and are developing energy saving products and services.

This latest funding round is the scheme’s tenth and includes £27m being made available through a main fund, aimed at grants of between £50,000 and £2m to support vulnerable households.

Also included is a small project fund totalling £1m, which will hand out grants of between £20,00 and £49,999.

Meanwhile, a £6m innovation fund is available offering grants of between £20,000 and £1m to those developing products or services to support households. The same total and grant range has been allocated to a carbon emissions reduction fund to help households save energy.

“We’re pleased to be able to offer this new funding, enabling voluntary sector organisations to provide vital support for those most in need in their communities,” said Energy Saving Trust senior project manager Graham Ayling.

“The funding will also support projects that will ensure no one is left behind as the UK transitions to net zero.”

Ofgem regulatory director Cathryn Scott added: “It’s fantastic to see the scheme in its tenth round of funding offering another £40million worth of grants - much of which is a direct result of Ofgem’s compliance and enforcement work.

“We strongly encourage charities and community groups working in the energy sectors across England, Scotland and Wales to apply."

Over the last six years the scheme has allocated £128m in funding to more than 600 projects. The allocation of payments is managed by the Energy Saving Trust.

Award winners for its previous funding round were announced last month and saw 9.3m offered to 28 organisations.

This included a grant of £443,700 to Arun and Chichester Citizens Advice Bureau for a project to provide home visits to vulnerable residents in Sussex to support them to manage their energy.

The deadline for applications for the latest funding round is 5pm on 15 January 2025.

Organisations that haven’t yet registered with the scheme must do so 10 working days before the deadline “to allow time for eligibility checks to take place”, said Ofgem

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