News | STEP-IN

STEP-IN Final Event on 13 April 2021

Balazs Kern — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 11:38:03 +0000

After 34 months, STEP-IN is coming to and end and the Consortium is very honored to invite you to our final event on April, 13th, 2021 from 9AM onwards.

This final event will be the opportunity to present the final results of our project that have not been published yet and to discuss with our three Living Labs Managers, our Coordinator and our Stakeholder Engagement Manager about the way forward and exploitation opportunities.

An agenda and the registration can be found at https://www.eventleaf.com/stepin-finalevent-2021

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Living Lab Fact Sheets released

Balazs Kern — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 18:09:02 +0000

STEP-IN has released fact sheets for all three Living Labs. The fact sheets provide an overview of the context, working methods and results of the STEP-IN Living Labs in the UK, Greece and Hungary. The fact sheets are available for download here.

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STEP-IN Video released

Balazs Kern — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 14:56:18 +0000

The STEP-IN partners have released a project video providing insights on the project’s goals, its methodology and results.

The post STEP-IN Video released first appeared on STEP-IN.

Last Meeting of the Hungarian Project Team

Balazs Kern — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 14:05:30 +0000

Shortly before the official end of the STEP-IN project, the Hungarian project team organised its last webinar on 24th March 2021. The aim of the meeting was to summarise the project results and to discuss the methodological challenges the project partners faced in the project period. Representatives of NGOs, energy utilities, and consultancy agencies took part in the discussion. All around, more than 40 people joined the event. There was a live discussion about how STEP-IN methods could be used in different areas of interest. The organisers hope this meeting will foster new collaborations between Hungarian organisations to tackle energy vulnerability on the local and national levels.

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STEP-IN Network of Interest Academia and Think Tanks Workshop

Balazs Kern — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 15:51:48 +0000

STEP-IN is organising an online workshop which will specifically focus on academia and think tanks representatives working with vulnerable communities across Europe. The workshop will take place on Tuesday, 9 March 2021 at 11:00 CET.

During the workshop, Roderick Mc Call (Coordinator of STEP-IN) and Sukriti Bhattacharya (Data Science and Analytics Expert) of the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology as well as Konstantinos Kanellos of VaasaETT will focus on existing best practices to tackle energy poverty across Europe and will launch the discussion with participant representatives of academia and think tanks on how scalable and replicable these practices are, according to the needs and constraints observed during the implementation of the project Living Labs, but also taking into account the different geographical contexts. Participants will be encouraged to share information on best practices (where academia and think tanks have a role) from their own countries. The discussion will then target the involvement and role of academia and think tanks on tackling energy poverty across Europe, gaps identified and the way ahead

The project partners invite all academia and think tanks’ representatives operating in the field of energy poverty to participate in this Working Group workshop to
* familiarise themselves with best practices currently implemented across the EU
* discuss challenges encountered as well as a potential future roles for academia and think tanks’ representatives
* contribute to the project’s policy recommendations

Registration is open at https://www.eventleaf.com/step-in-academia-ws

Join the STEP-IN Network of Interest here

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STEP-IN Network of Interest Consumer and Advocacy Groups Workshop successfully concluded

Balazs Kern — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 10:11:33 +0000

STEP-IN has successfully concluded its online workshop specifically focusing on consumer and advocacy groups working with vulnerable communities across Europe on 3 March 2021.

15 persons representing consumer and advocacy groups but also academia and public authorities attended the workshop and discussed existing best practices to tackle energy poverty across Europe and the role for consumer and advocacy groups’ representatives in addressing this topic. Together with the results of the other Network of Interest workshops, the outcomes of this event will be fed into the STEP-IN policy recommendations to the European Commission.

The presentations held during the can be downloaded here:

NoI Workshop Presentations

Join the STEP-IN Network of Interest here

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STEP-IN Network of Interest Consumer and Advocacy Groups Workshop

Balazs Kern — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 16:52:13 +0000

STEP-IN is organising an online workshop which will specifically focus on consumer and advocacy groups working with vulnerable communities across Europe. The workshop will take place on Wednesday, 3 March 2021 at 15:00 CET.

Laura Galli and Francesco Luiseof Adiconsum Nazionale will focus on existing best practices to tackle energy poverty across Europe and will launch a discussion with participant practitioners on how scalable and replicable these practices are, according to the needs and constraints observed during the implementation of the project Living Labs, but also taking into account the different geographical contexts.

The project partners invite all consumer and advocacy groups’ representatives operating in the field of energy poverty to participate in this Working Group workshop to
* familiarise yourselves with best practices currently implemented across the EU
* discuss challenges encountered as well as a potential future roles for consumer and advocacy groups’ representatives
* contribute to the project’s policy recommendations

Registration is open at https://www.eventleaf.com/stepin_noi_workshop

Join the STEP-IN Network of Interest here

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THE RIGHT TO FAIR ENERGY ACCESS – STEP-IN reports its achievements in the International Conference on February 18th

Balazs Kern — Thu, 11 Feb 2021 15:54:50 +0000

Almost three years of work, in 7 countries, with highly satisfying results in terms of social impact and a relevant set of lessons learnt. Despite the last 10 months of pandemics, challenging face to face activities, the 3 Living Labs of the project reached an impressive amount of people experiencing energy deprivation, with delivery of concrete support and long lasting competences, thus improving their living conditions. The Living Labs were conceived as to represent pilot experiences in real settings: the Urban LL was set up in Manchester (UK), the mountaineous LL was set up in Metsovo (GR) end the rural LL was set up in Nyrbátor (HU). Although the context is quite different, their methodology relies on common assumptions, such as the direct engagement of households, the development of custom solutions through the involvement of multiple stakeholders, the use of ICT tools to collect starting point data an to monitor achievements, the work with advisors both at home and in the Energy Cafés. Energy cafés provide an informal space in which households can meet with energy saving experts and receive advice, in a relaxed environment over a drink and some food. The energy cafés provide opportunities for local households to ask questions and discuss issues with energy experts, so that the communication is bi-directional and interactive, a process that has shown to be effective at building trust and enhancing learning outcomes.

In the UK, the Greater Manchester Living Lab carried out 868 advisor visits or calls, involving a total of 565 households, organised 4 Energy Cafés and 4 Live Chats: it was observed a direct energy bill saving of 8.6 % per year, which is expected to last for the next 10 years, across all households participating in the project, mainly thanks to debt maximisation and tariff switching.

In Greece, 150 households were involved in the Metsovo Living Lab, with 350 visits; 3 Energy Cafés were organised (the last online) with over 100 participants in all. Some key facts: about 75% of the participants found STEP-IN useful; among them, 25% stated a “Change in everyday habits”, 25% said “Better understanding of energy bills”, 19% “Change/maintenance of heating system”, 18% “More efficient use of heating system”, 9% “Implementation of energy retrofit measures”, 4% “Use of special night tariff”. About 50% said that the thermal conditions in their homes improved, 24% mentioned a reduction in energy expenses, 19% said that they noticed moisture/mould reduction and 6% said that they managed to pay their energy bills on time. An ICT “Energy cost and savings calculator” online and 6 videos with energy advice were created.

In Hungary, 611 household participated in the Nyrbàtor Living Lab, with more than 1000 contacts; 7 Energy Cafés were organised, with a total number of 149 participants. A successful energy awareness School Programme was carried out. The project team in Hungary managed to re-connect 13 households to the energy grid. Based on the home visit questionnaire, the ICT app created a personalised energy report for the households, thanks to the monitoring equipment installed (‘smart meters’ and temperature and humidity monitors).

The STEP-IN project created 2 versions of its advanced ICT Tools (software, platform), the first targeting the energy advisors as primary users, the second providing consumers with further functionalities such as freestanding advice, integrated through a media centre where consumers can access general information specific to their country, region and city on how to improve quality of life regarding energy.

The STEP-IN Network of Interest gathers 46 experts from 6 different stakehoders’ categories: Industrial representatives, Local/Regional authorities, Consumers and advocacy, Practitioners, EU & National policy-makers and regulators, Academia & think tanks. Two NoI workshops were organised for each group, to provide the basis for policy papers. In addition, STEP-IN is establishing connections with other relevant EU and national projects in the field of energy poverty.

The STEP-IN project presents its results in a big international conference, online on 18 February 2021. Time: 8.30-13.15. Participation is free of charge, the registration can be accessed at https://www.eventleaf.com/right-to-fair-energy.

The agenda can be downloaded here:

The Right to Fair Energy Access Conference AgendaThe post THE RIGHT TO FAIR ENERGY ACCESS – STEP-IN reports its achievements in the International Conference on February 18th first appeared on STEP-IN.

STEP-IN partners’ interview from Canale Energia

Audrey Bretaud Kelle — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 08:18:27 +0000

Several of STEP-IN partners have been interviewed by our Italian Network of Interest Canale Energia and has produced a full-lenght paper presenting our project. This interview has been translated from Italian to English and is now available to download below.

STEP-IN interview from Canale Energia – English version

Disclaimer: STEP-IN has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 785125. The present interview and its content only reflect the speakers’ view and the European Commission can and should not be held accountable.

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Right to Energy Forum 1st-3rd December 2020

Balazs Kern — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 08:20:40 +0000

It is with great pleasure that we announce our participation in the upcoming Right to Energy Forum. STEP-IN Partner National Technical University of Athens will present the Greek Living Lab and discuss energy poverty in their country.The presentation will be part of the opening session Energy poverty: an introduction across Europe that will introduce the causes and challenges of energy poverty and share insight from activists and experts in the field in Spain, Serbia, Greece, UK, Bulgaria and Lithuania.

STEP-IN partner Stefan Bouzarovski of the University of Manchester and chair of the EU Energy Poverty Observatory will facilitate a session on how to transform our regions and cities in order to embed just energy transformations in multiple aspects of policy and governance.

About the Right to Energy Forum

The Right to Energy Forum is an opportunity to connect with activists, campaigners, decision makers and researchers who work on energy poverty and energy democracy to ensure a socially-fair energy transition that leaves no one behind. The programme includes speakers from local, national and EU perspectives. The Right to Energy Coalition invites all interested parties to discuss solutions and strategies to strengthen the growing movement to end energy poverty across Europe. It is free of charge to all attendees.

When: December 1-3rd
What: 15 workshops including panel discussions, workshops and webinars
Where: Online

Detailed programme and registration at https://righttoenergy.org/forum-2020/

About Right to Energy Coalition

Right to Energy unites trade unions, anti-poverty groups, social housing providers, NGOs, environmental campaigners, health organisations and energy cooperatives across Europe. Right to Energy campaigns to tackle energy poverty at an EU, national and grassroot level. Right to Energy aims for an energy system that puts people and planet before profit. The Coalition was formed in 2017 to advocate for energy poverty in the 2030 EU energy legislative package. Since then, coalition members have successfully campaigned to ban disconnections, implement free of charge renovations for energy poor households and include the energy poor as key players in the EU Green Deal.

More information at https://righttoenergy.org/about/

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