How BHESCo brings Energy Justice to communities in Sussex
Clean, affordable heat and power is a human right. BHESCo works to tackle fuel poverty at its roots—building community-owned solutions that put people, not profit, at the heart of the energy system.
What we mean by “Energy Justice”
Energy Justice means ensuring every household can live in a warm, safe, healthy home powered by clean, affordable energy. Since 2015, BHESCo has carried out hundreds of home energy visits across Brighton & Hove. The people we meet (families, pensioners, working tenants) shape our understanding of the UK’s energy crisis and inspire our mission to solve it.
Fuel Poverty: A crisis hidden from sight
It is scandalous that in the UK, one of the wealthiest nations in the world, one in ten households are living in fuel poverty. This means that they are unable to afford to adequately heat and power their home, and very often will have to make the choice between heating or eating.
Prepayment meters and the poverty premium
Many households we support rely on pay-as-you-go meters, which charge higher prices and force families to live in constant fear of disconnection.
With a pay-as-you-go meter, households need to add credit to the meter (usually £10 or £20 at a time), and when that credit runs out, they are disconnected from their supply, leaving them unable to cook, heat, or even use the lights.
Short-term fixes that don’t fix the system
Millions of pounds from schemes like the Fuel Bank Foundation voucher programme are spent just to keep people connected to gas and electricity. While these vouchers offer vital emergency relief, they ultimately flow straight to energy suppliers and do nothing to break the long-term cycle of unaffordable bills.
The human cost
Cold, damp homes cause respiratory illness, worsen mental health, and increase excess winter deaths. Fuel poverty is not a minor policy issue; it is a public health emergency.
When policy fails, people pay the price
Ever since Prime Minister David Cameron decided to ‘cut the green crap’ (reducing Government support for renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes), successive governments have failed to address the UK’s dilapidated housing stock, contributing to three interconnected crises:
the cost of living crisis
the climate crisis
the energy crisis
The MEES failure
By refusing to raise Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES), the UK has allowed landlords to profit from homes that are cold, damp, and expensive to heat. Tenants pay the price—with their health and their income.
A broken housing system
Without mandatory standards and a national retrofit programme, millions remain trapped in inefficient homes, and the country wastes vast amounts of energy every year.
Access to energy is a global right
Goal 7 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals calls for universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable energy by 2030.
In one of the world’s richest nations, this should be achievable. Yet progress remains out of reach for millions. BHESCo advances SDG 7 by delivering energy guidance, reducing carbon emissions, and enabling community ownership of renewable power.
Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7):
“Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all”
From dependency to empowerment - BHESCo's Solar Power Communities programme
Our Solar Powered Communities Programme enables households to access affordable solar electricity generated from their own roof, and all at no (or low) upfront cost. Solar panel and battery storage systems are installed by BHESCo using finance raised by our network of community investors. The electricity is then sold to participating households at a rate significantly cheaper than they would otherwise pay to their energy company.
This isn’t just about installing solar panels—it’s about shifting power back into the hands of local people.
Reduces energy costs across a whole community
Cuts carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels
Keeps energy profits within the community
Empowers people to control their own energy future
Help us build an energy system that works for everyone
Your support allows us to reach more vulnerable households, challenge harmful policy, and make sure that people can afford to heat and power their homes.
FAQs
Energy justice is a framework for understanding and addressing how the benefits and burdens of energy systems are distributed among different communities. It focuses on fairness across the entire energy life cycle; production, distribution, consumption, and governance.
Here are the three main pillars commonly used to describe energy justice:
1. Distributional Justice
Who gets the benefits (like affordable power, clean air) and who bears the burdens (like pollution, high bills, or energy insecurity)? Energy justice asks whether those burdens fall disproportionately on low-income communities, Indigenous peoples, or marginalized groups.
2. Procedural Justice
Who gets a say in energy decisions? This involves fair and meaningful participation in planning, permitting, policy making, and regulation, so communities affected by energy projects can influence outcomes.
3. Recognition Justice
Are the identities, histories, and needs of different groups acknowledged?
This means understanding the specific circumstances of vulnerable or historically excluded communities (e.g., rural areas, frontline environmental-justice communities, renters) rather than treating all populations as identical.
Why It Matters
Energy justice becomes especially important during major energy transitions, like the shift to renewables, because those transitions can either reinforce existing inequalities or correct them. Issues such as high energy burden, access to clean energy, reliability, resilience, and fair labour conditions are all part of the discussion.
Lots of housing stock in the UK is very old and does not include modern insulation measures like Cavity Wall Insulation or double glazed windows. The UK also has a high level of homes in the Private Rental Sector, where homes are purchased by landlords as an income-generating asset. In many cases, landlords invest very little money in improving their properties, as long as the building meets the minimum standards required to rent out the property.
Finally, successive UK Governments have failed to introduce an effective, long-term, nationwide home upgrade programme. There have been several programmes over the past decade (the Green Homes Grant, the Green Deal, Home Upgrades Grant), but these are often short-term and fail to meet their own targets.
A nationwide Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard makes it unlawful for any landlord in the Private Rental Sector to let out a property that has an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of F or G.
Ed Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, has stated that the UK Government intends to increase the minimum standard to C for all rental properties by 2030, but an official policy is yet to be introduced.
Community energy allows people and communities to take shared ownership over their energy future, by understanding, generating, using, owning, and saving energy in their communities, as well as working together across regions and nationally.
Community Energy England defines the sector as: “a nationwide movement putting people at the heart of delivering a clean power transition. It empowers every street, town, city, village and neighbourhood to have a say over the design and ownership of the renewable energy systems appearing in our urban and rural landscapes, as we work together to avoid climate collapse and achieve fairer bills and energy security for all.
BHESCo installs, owns, and operates renewable energy systems on behalf of households who participate in our Solar Power Communities programme.
The upfront installation costs are covered by our network of community investors who want to use their money to make a positive impact.
Participating residents purchase electricity from the panels at a significantly discounted rate compared to what they pay to their energy company.
In this way, residents do not have to pay anything upfront and see an immediate reduction in their monthly electricity costs and household carbon emissions.
Through economies of scale, the more households that participate in the programme, the cheaper the solar electricity unit price becomes.
you can support our innovative work by making a donation to our fuel poverty alleviation programme, or by donating your time and skills by becoming a volunteer.
We are always looking for volunteers to help with our data management, digital marketing, and energy advice outreach, so if you can’t afford to donate by do have some spare time and energy on your hands, then let us know.