Home Energy Advice North East (HEANE)

The North East Combined Authority committed to enabling and accelerating retrofit across the region. From April 2024 to March 2025 over 2,000 residents were provided with impartial, tailored advice to reduce their energy bills and make their homes warmer. Thanks to an additional injection of funding from the North East CA and part funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), the service continued until 31 July 2025.

Home Energy Advice North East service brought together two projects under one service. The Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) project offered in-person advice across the seven Local Authority areas, and the One Stop Shop (OSS) provided web and telephone advice, up until March 2025 to North of Tyne residents and April 2025, to residents across the seven Local Authority areas.

Energy Saving Trust was procured to deliver both projects, more information can be found at the Home Energy Advice North East website or by calling 0808 175 9345.

Home Energy Advice and Support

Expert advisors from Energy Saving Trust provided over-the-phone advice to support residents in making energy saving home improvements. They also helped access available funding, and signpost to local installers, making it easier for people to act on the advice given. 

The Homewise tool on the website gave households the option to create personalised home energy improvement plans to help lower energy bills. By completing this simple online survey, residents received a personalised action plan tailored to their needs and budget in minutes, with a breakdown of costs and savings.

Residents also benefitted from a home visit. This support was provided by partners Groundwork North East and Cumbria and Community Action Northumberland. Residents were offered a free no-obligation home assessment and support from a qualified Retrofit Coordinator, impartial personalised advice on the options around energy saving home improvements and support to access grant funding schemes which install energy efficiency measures where eligible.

LEAD Best Practice Guides

Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) was initially a pilot project run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero through the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub. The programme funded projects to pilot new approaches to providing in-person retrofit advice to householders who may find it hard to access support or live in properties more difficult to retrofit with modern methods. The project is part of a national evaluation with learnings feeding into the design of future Government retrofit advice services.

The pilot was a great success, reaching the households it was designed to help. Please see the best practice guides for more information about the project’s aims and performance:

• Dedicated local coordinators 
• Developing a targeted marketing campaign
• Hard-to-reach clients
• Vulnerable and rural residents

You can also watch a video best practice guide here.