Delivering innovative local energy advice to underserved and underrepresented communities, and those most in need, across South Manchester.
Energise Manchester (2026) is a continuation and further development of our work delivering energy advice across Manchester communities. Funded by Energy Redress, we will be working across the following neighbourhoods from 2026 to 2028:
- Longsight
- Levenshulme
- Moss Side
- Rusholme
- Gorton
- Fallowfield
Our community-based energy advice project aims to address systemic climate injustice by supporting underserved households across South Manchester wards. These neighbourhoods experience high fuel poverty, overcrowding, traditional homes and significant cultural, linguistic and digital barriers, preventing residents from accessing support.
Building on three years of delivery and strong community partnerships, we will engage households through a tiered programme of:
- light-touch engagement, including in libraries, health settings and community events. These offer low-barrier advice, signposting and relationship building with residents who may not seek help independently.
- workshops provide in-depth, peer-supported learning on foundational topics of gas heating controls, damp and mould, draughtproofing and understanding energy bills, with immediate action enabled through hygrometers and draughtproofing packs.
- one-to-one support through an Energy Advisor, providing ‘handholding’ support via one-to-one phone calls or in-person drop-ins, helping navigate complex energy systems, resolve billing issues and overcome cultural, literacy or digital barriers.
The project will collaborate with Manchester Care & Repair, Groundwork, Citizens Advice, National Energy Action and local community hubs (including Northmoor Hub), to further support households that would benefit from onward referral, ensuring our work amplifies rather than duplicates existing provision.
By building trust and empowering residents with practical knowledge and tailored support, the project will reduce fuel poverty risk, improve home comfort and health, and strengthen community capacity for long-term energy resilience.
If you are a household in our Energise area, click through to this page to see what’s coming up, and to sign-up for updates: carbon.coop/energise-manchester-2026
If you are looking for our Energise resources (information sheets), click through to: carbon.coop/energise-manchester-handy-resources
Preceding this phase of Energise was a programme grant funded from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in summer 2023, as part of their Local Energy Demonstrator Programme. You can read more about that, including our key learning, here: carbon.coop/portfolio/energise-manchester-2023/
It is worth noting that our current Energise programme is focused on delivering foundational energy advice. For example, workshop topics focus on DIY draught proofing, tackling damp and mould and heating controls. One-to-one support is primarily about helping households navigate the energy system. Whilst making home upgrades may be touched on at times (e.g. through a referral to a partner organisation for repair or upgrades), retrofit assessments and technical advice on the suitability of different retrofit solutions is outside of the scope.