Club Principal Partner UK Energy Management (UKEM) has won a prestigious award for its work to alleviate fuel poverty around the country.
On Friday night, UKEM won the ‘Fuel Poverty and Vulnerable Customer Support of the Year’ award, at the National Energy Efficiency Awards.
Taking place at Birmingham’s Hilton Metropole, the glittering award ceremony brought businesses and experts from across the energy efficiency industry together under one roof.
Comedian Jason Manford hosted the event and presented UKEM directors Steven Copeland and Chris Snaith with the award, which recognised ‘those organisations going the extra mile to help people in difficult circumstances.’
UKEM beat eight other finalists to the award, having helped install energy saving solutions in over 9,000 homes over the past 12 months. During that period, several thousand installations were in County Durham. UKEM is looking to increase its brand awareness in the area by supporting key community initiatives such as their 12-month sponsorship of the Brewery Field’s community clubhouse and other Moors in the Community initiatives.
Speaking after receiving the accolade, Steven Copeland said: “We are beyond proud to have been presented with this prestigious award.
“We have invested heavily in our marketing and advertising efforts over the past couple of years to target those in traditionally hard to reach communities who may be experiencing fuel poverty. We are now seeing those efforts really bear fruit.
“Over the past 12 months, we’ve installed energy efficiency solutions in thousands of homes, the vast majority which have been on behalf of people struggling with rising energy prices, so to receive such an award is testament to the fantastic work our team do week-in, week-out, to help those most in-need.”
Ian Geldard, Managing Director of Spennymoor Town FC, said: “This is an astronomical achievement from UKEM to be gaining national recognition at the peak of their industry as such a young company. All of us at the club would like to congratulate them on the win, especially in such a topical and crucial category, which is an issue in County Durham.
“Their support for the club so far this season has been unbelievable and there are plenty more community initiatives taking place this side of Christmas, which are only possible because of UKEM. So, anyone reading this who is experiencing difficulties with their home costs should definitely check their eligibility for support via UKEM’s website checker.”
All of UKEM’s installations during the period were delivered via the Government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) and Great British Insulation (GBIS) Schemes, aimed specifically at reducing fuel poverty through the installation of renewable and low-carbon technologies.
The solutions installed by UKEM, including heat pumps, solar panels and loft and wall insulation, have a real environmental as well as economic impact, with the firm’s latest impact report concluding that its installations also prevented over 57,000 tonnes of CO2 from escaping into the earth’s atmosphere.
Steven continued, “We know there are still millions of households in this country who are eligible for free efficiency measures and very much in-need of such support, so we’d recommend all Moors supporters to check their eligibility for funded measures via our website.”
