Throughout the SAVE Project the team has engaged a variety of local and national stakeholders; a few key quotes are from different organisations are noted below:
“Thanks to the SAVE Project and the work of Connecting Kings Worthy, of the 33 areas I represent, Kings Worthy is the only area where issues of energy are visible and people are happy to engage in conversations around energy efficiency, peak demand and associated wider environmental issues. ” – Councillor Jackie Porter, Hampshire County Council)
“The SAVE Project was very successful at harnessing the support of existing groups and organisations in Kings Worthy, encouraging and enabling them to take on board the energy agenda through their own routine activities. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, it has used to advantage the mature network that already exists to deliver its messages” — Malclom Prince, Winchester City Council)
“The SAVE project has played a key role in WinACC’s community engagement work over the past two years. We are using the learning from this to help shape future plans and projects.” — Tom Brennan, WinACC Chief Executive)
“The SAVE Project has totally transformed Shirley Warren – it has been the catalyst for action – bringing together local people to deliver positive change in their own community as well as achieve reductions in peak demand. A real win/win. We’re so glad we got involved.” — Jenny Elliot, Minister at Shirley Warren Action Church
“The SAVE Project has allowed us to work closely with some amazing people, helping them to form a constituted community group and, with them, deliver a variety of events and activities which have achieved real outcomes for local residents. We hope to continue to work with those groups as part of the legacy of this Project.” — Adam Goulden, tEC Chief Executive
“The SAVE Coaching approach has successfully demonstrated how you can support people to understand an issue and empower them to seek their own solutions which can be different for each person and can change over time. This makes coaching much more resilient than a traditional marketing approach as it provides people with the flexibility to respond to changing situations.” — Jason Light, Eastleigh Borough Council
“Although initially sceptical about what the coaching approach could achieve I have been impressed with the outcomes of the trial – the way in which the Project successfully engaged with the communities; the messaging used; giving the communities a tool kit to make peak demand/energy efficiency and what to do about it understandable. In particular I feel that this approach and ‘toolkit’ would be of use to help other communities – to empower them to change for the better.” — Paul Ciniglio, Formally First Wessex Housing Association
“The novel approach of the Coaching trial to working with stakeholders has shown the benefits of breaking down the barriers between agencies and the positive benefits of collaborative working to approach the shared challenges we face. I have been so impressed by the success of this approach that I am working with partners from within the gas and energy utilities to look at ways of continuing to work together by pooling our resources to collectively benefit communities.” — Ben Earl, Southern Water- Water Efficiency Manager
“The SAVE Coaching trial has provided a unique opportunity for SGN to work alongside other local utility companies and to share in the learning generated. We have been particularly impressed with the nature of the community engagement that has taken place and the co-design approach to developing community based responses to the issue of peak demand. At SGN we are keen to continue developing this collaborative approach in our work with partners from the other utilities.” — Susan Day, Southern Gas Networks- Stakeholder Engagement Manager
“SAVE for SSEN is about logic and doing the right thing!
If there is a way to encourage people to use less energy, reduce their bills and reduce the need to build bigger electrical networks then surely it is the right thing to do. The SAVE project has set about turning this intuitively sensible belief into a demonstrable fact. It has brought to life the connection between how customers behave, what we invest in and what “whole system” and “Societal benefit” really mean” — Stewart Reid, SSE – Head of DSO and Innovation