Hi everybody,
Our close collaborators, People Powered Retrofit are working on a major new research project with Citizens Advice, and we are looking for the Carbon Co-op community to get involved.
They are looking to understand the real-world experience of homeowner accessing advice and support when carrying out energy improvements. The goal is to use your experience; good, bad or just average, to help influence government policy and improve future advice for households like yours.
Who they are looking for: Homeowners in England, Wales, or Scotland who have installed energy efficiency measures - such as heat pumps, insulation, new windows/doors or solar panels - in the last few years.
Note: While the official scope focusses on 2024 onwards, if you have completed your works in 2023, or slightly before please do still take part! They are looking for a wide range of experiences
What is involved & Incentives: The research is broken down into stages with different incentives for each:
- Screening Survey (5 mins): Tell them a little about your retrofit.
–Incentive: Entry into a £100 hamper prize draw.
- Interviews (optional): If selected, you may be invited to a one-on-one interview.
– Incentive: £25 payment.
- In-person Workshop (optional): A deeper dive into the finding (higher time commitment).
– Incentive: £100 payment
Deadline: The survey closes at 5pm on Friday 13th February 2026.
Take the 5-minute survey here
I got an email invitation from People Powered Retrofit inviting me to take part. I took the initial survey which is only interested in those actions taken in the last 2 years. In my case that is very little.
Interesting to hear. Helen Grimshaw who also works at Carbon Co-op is involved in the project, and told me that it might not be a showstopper if the works were carried out in say 2023. So if you weren’t able to mention these in the survey it may be worth dropping them a quick email?
I am not personally involved in the project, so can’t say for sure what their eligibility requirements are.
I could drop them a line and outline the total works done and planned with timelines.
It did say in the introduction that if you had not done anything in the last 2 years then complete the survey anyway but you may not qualify for the next stage but if you had, then only answer about the recent works.
I can see their point if they are looking into current finance plans and legislation. Older work would have been done in a different fiscal environment.
Nowhere do they ask how effective the works were or how happy you are with the outcome but they do ask how it was financed.
Edit: Thinking about it, this discussion probably won’t affect many members of the forum. It seems to me that most active members are in the planning and construction phases of their projects. They join the forum, investigate, ask questions, including follow-ups, do the work with additional questions and then become dormant. There is a small core that seems to remain active to share their knowledge and experience.
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