The Deputy Chairman of the Naturgy Foundation and Managing Director of Communication and Institutional Relations of the energy company, Jordi Garcia Tabernero; the Chairman of Caritas, Manuel Bretón; and the Managing Director of the Foundation, Martí Solà, today renewed the collaboration agreement to help groups at risk of energy vulnerability in Spain.
“During this first year of the agreement, the Foundation and Caritas attended to more than 7,000 people in vulnerable situations, focusing mainly on bringing together families with more complex situations and helping them to integrate”, said the Chairman of Caritas, Manuel Bretón. This initiative was developed through 300 projects on energy efficiency that both organisations started up, related to improvements in electrical installations, heating systems, enclosures, and insulation and lighting.
The Deputy Chairman of the Naturgy Foundation, Jordi Garcia Tabernero, said that “efforts to ease energy vulnerability require the joint collaboration of public authorities, society and energy companies”. And he recalled the results of the company’s Vulnerability Plan which “during the first year of operation of the Plan guaranteed supply for more than 30,000 families throughout Spain”.
New projects under the agreement
The renewal of the agreement between the Naturgy Foundation and Caritas includes new lines of action, such as the incorporation of the Social Employment and Energy Efficiency programme targeted at the unemployed. Through this project, participants will receive training in energy advice and housing refurbishment, with the aim of improving energy conditions in the homes of vulnerable families.
Another initiative included in the new agreement involves the development of corporate volunteer programmes for the care of vulnerable families and the incorporation of workshops on energy advice in Caritas centres.
To complement the new lines of work, the travelling exhibition, Energytruck, a large sustainable truck that houses a mobile exhibition on the efficient use of energy and the preservation of the environment, will be also incorporated.
First year of energy advice for these families
Thanks to their collaboration agreement, in 2017 both organisations attended to more than 7,000 people in vulnerable situations to offer them advice on the responsible use of energy and adapting energy consumption in their homes.
They organised energy workshops (supported by the Foundation’s Energy School) to tackle issues related to contracting the right power in their bills and the process for subsidised rate application.
Energy Vulnerability Plan
NATURGY’s Energy Vulnerability Plan is the first such plan to be developed by a Spanish energy company. The programme contains over 20 operational and social measures aimed at strengthening and systematising the management of vulnerable customers, and enhancing collaboration with third sector entities and communication with social services. In all, it represents an investment of €4.5 million per year.
Caritas
The aim of Caritas Española is to carry out charitable and social actions on behalf of the Catholic Church in Spain, through the Christian community, in order to promote and coordinate Christian communication of goods in all their forms, and to help the human promotion and holistic development of all people. To this end, it promotes, encourages and coordinates initiatives relating to welfare, the holistic promotion of the individual and prophetic denunciation.
The Naturgy Foundation
The Naturgy Foundation, set up by the power company in 1992, seeks to educate, train, inform and raise awareness throughout society on energy and environmental issues. It also develops Social Action programmes both nationally and internationally, by influencing particular initiatives aimed at alleviating energy vulnerability. It promotes initiatives in the cultural sphere, geared towards preserving and disseminating the historical heritage of the gas and electricity sector.