Solutions to Tackle Energy Poverty (STEP) is a project to develop a simple, innovative and replicable model of measures to address energy poverty.

The project covers some of the countries with the highest rates of energy poverty in Europe. These are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

There are three specific objectives:

• To get consumer groups and frontline organisations, who advise people on a range of issues such as financial or health-related ones, to partner and deliver advice to energy poor consumers.
• To help energy poor consumers across the 9 countries save energy and improve their living standard. We will advise consumers on more efficient energy consumption and how this can help them save money and improve their health and well-being. We will carry out information campaigns, provide tips on how to save energy, demonstrate cost savings and help put in place low-cost energy efficiency measures.
• To disseminate best practices and policy choices that can alleviate energy poverty and promote their replication in other EU countries.

Partners

There are 11 organisations taking part in the STEP project. Nine of them are established consumer organisations which provide advice to consumers at national level. The other two organisations are a European umbrella network of consumer organisations (BEUC) and a UK-based trade association from across the industrial, commercial and public sectors working on energy efficiency and decentralised energy (ADE Research).

• ADE
• BEUC
• Българска национална асоциация “Активни потребители” (BNAAC)
• Citizens Advice (Coventry, Reading & Manchester)
• Cyprus Consumers Association (CCA)
• DECO
• dTest
• Federacja Konsumentów (FK)
• Latvijas Patērētāju interešu aizstāvības asociācija (LPIAA)
• Lietuvos vartotojų organizacijų aljansas (LVOA)
• Spoločnosť ochrany spotrebiteľov (S.O.S.)

Start date: 1/06/2019 - End date: 30/11/2021