Rising energy costs are pushing more UK households into fuel poverty every year. We need a fast and scalable way of deploying energy grants so every fuel-poor home gets the support it needs.
Challenge
The Wise Group is a social enterprise dedicated to lifting people in the UK out of poverty. Their in-house Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT) help vulnerable people access energy-related hardship funding and support.
With energy prices dramatically rising, the number of UK households requiring the Government’s Warm Home Discount increased 26% between 2023 and 2024.
In 2024, Octopus Energy commissioned The Wise Group to help it identify households North West of England that were eligible for the Government’s Warm Home Discount. This was a region of the country that the Group was less familiar with, and so they needed a fast and reliable way to target their support efforts and prioritise the most vulnerable.
Approach
Using our AI-powered fuel poverty predictor, uZero, The Wise Group was able to easily identify which households across their service areas were eligible for the Warm Homes Discount.
uZero integrates anonymised smart metre data with other household datasets to build a clear interactive heatmap of the areas in – or most at risk of falling into – fuel poverty. This includes ‘hidden pockets’ of households in higher debt risk that would otherwise escape detection.
With this data at their fingertips, The Wise Group's on-the-ground advisors were able to proactively target and engage with the most vulnerable households, supporting them through energy-efficiency campaigns and ensuring they received the energy bill rebates they were due.
Results
39
The Wise Group were able to create a fuel poverty map covering all 39 of their local authority areas.
3.5m
uZero analysed 35 million data records to create a heatmap of fuel-poor households eligible for government support.
26%
The number of UK households requiring the Warm Home Grant between 2023 and 2024 grew 26%.
Using uZero, The Wise Group used an interactive fuel poverty map that highlighted the households in their service areas that were eligible for the Warm Home Discount.
Our shared vision
UrbanTide is committed to our mission to use AI for good, leveraging the most advanced data technology to solve some of the UK’s biggest sustainability challenges.
Lifting people out of poverty is a big part of that mission, and this project with The Wise Group is a perfect example of how our data and AI solutions can be used to precision target support to those who need it most.
About The Wise Group
The Wise Group is a leading social enterprise dedicated to transforming lives and lifting people out of poverty.
They support people into jobs, tackle fuel poverty, and run programs that help those leaving prison.
Amongst the many services it offers, the Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT) help vulnerable people access energy-related hardship funding and support.
Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.
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