Community-led project looks to bring free or low-cost energy to North East households

The Social Virtual Power Plant (Social VPP) project has been awarded £150,, from Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) to explore how to improve access to energy flexibility for households and SMEs across the North East of England.

The project will be led by LCP Delta and the Centre for Energy Equality on behalf of Northern Powergrid, with the aim to provide free or low‑cost batteries to households, helping them store energy and use it during peak times to reduce bills through time‑of‑day tariffs.

The Social VPP project will look to assess the technical, social and financial feasibility of the proposed approach, which involves installing home batteries and enabling flexible energy use through smart software.

LCP Delta and the Centre for Energy Equality will be identifying the areas with the greatest need and explore how the project can best support them going forward.

The programme will be delivered with community energy partners to ensure solutions reflect the needs and priorities of local people.

Emma Carr, Senior Consultant at LCP Delta and Project Lead, said: “Energy flexibility is essential to delivering a fair and affordable energy transition.

“By helping households and local businesses use and store energy more intelligently, we can reduce bills, ease pressure on the grid and make better use of low‑carbon power when it is available.

“The Social VPP demonstrates how flexibility can be delivered in a practical, community‑focused way and highlights the important role it can play in building a smarter, more resilient energy system for the future.”

Dan Hoare, Innovation Project Lead at Northern Powergrid, added: “As demand for electricity grows, flexibility will play an increasingly vital role in helping balance the grid.

“This project opens the door for customers and communities who otherwise face barriers to participate, creating new opportunities while helping us manage the network in a smarter, more sustainable way.”

John McHugh, Co-founder at Centre for Energy Equality, commented: “At CEE, our mission is to ensure fair access to sustainable and affordable energy for every community.

“The Social Virtual Power Plant is about putting that principle into practice by prioritising households who are often excluded from the benefits of energy flexibility.

“By combining community leadership with smart energy management, we can reduce bills, strengthen local resilience and support a more efficient and reliable grid.”