EDF - Fight against the energy precariousness

We work hand-in-hand with our stakeholders to develop solutions targeted to the main challenges in each country where we operate. Our goals are to:

• participate in local government initiatives via, notably, the promotion and implementation of social energy tariffs, contributions to funds designed to assist customers in financial difficulty,
  
• develop voluntary initiatives to support customers in financial difficulty, to raise awareness as concerns energy management and sustainable development, and to contribute to home renovation, mainly through partnerships with major charitable organizations.
  
  

In France, EDF has contributed € 22 million to the Social Housing Fund (FSL). In 2010, this fund provided assistance to nearly 200,000 households that were having difficulty making payments. EDF also promotes access to the Social Tariff (TPN).

Beyond its legal obligations, EDF offers personalized “energy assistance” to its customers who are having difficulty making payments; this includes advice and services related to tariffs, energy use, energy management and payment options (132,000 beneficiaries in 2010).

Today, in order to work more closely with vulnerable populations, EDF relies upon help and information centers, which complement its network of stores (numerous partnerships with social mediation organizations).

As a leading global electricity company, we also support activities designed to raise awareness about energy management and home renovation possibilities through numerous partnerships, by providing financial assistance and sharing our expertise.

EDF participates in the Observatoire de la précarité énergétique (the Fuel Poverty Observatory) in order to identify solutions that could drastically decrease energy consumption by the more vulnerable segments of the public. An initiative carried out in association with the French Ministry for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea, The French Environment and Energy Management Agency, Ademe, and other energy companies.

Additionally, EDF supports other key social players in their complementary efforts by providing financial assistance and also sharing its expertise in the field of energy savings, for example:

• with Secours Catholique, which signed as a partner in the fight against fuel poverty
• with Unis-Cité, an organization that works with young people as part of the European Citizenship Initiative, in order to raise the “eco-action” awareness of the inhabitants of problem neighborhoods
  
• with the fédération Envie, in order to raise awareness of energy savings amongst families, to whom the organization resells used household appliances
  
• with the Fondation Abbé Pierre for the "2000 Roofs, 2000 Families" programme, which builds energy-efficient housing or renovates existing housing in order to make it so
  

In the United Kingdom, EDF Energy contributes to the Energy Trust fund, which assists vulnerable customers who are having difficulty making payments. Since 2003, this fund has aided 20,000 households that were either heavily in debt or destitute. The company has also launched a specific tariff for vulnerable customers (Energy Assist Social Tariff), which entails a 15% discount along with advice concerning energy efficiency and insulation work; this advice is provided for free in some cases. At the end of 2010, approximately 165,000 clients benefited from this tariff.

Over the last ten years, alongside the City of London, EDF Energy has pursued the London Warm Zone initiative, whose objective is to identify vulnerable households in order to assist them in saving energy and money and avoiding carbon emissions.

Since 2001 in developing countries, the “Access to Energy in Developing Countries” programme has created energy service companies in rural areas.