28 October 2016

Volunteering energy at Endesa

Endesa's energy volunteers help families with limited resources to optimise their electrical equipment and offer them advice on energy saving and efficiency.

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Energy efficiency tips can change the situation of families who are unaware of how to reduce electrical consumption in their home and save on their bill. There are many factors that influence the efficient use of energy: deteriorated plugs, boilers in poor condition, the home’s insulation, questions about the electrical installation, etc.

At Endesa, we have been wanting to undertake a volunteer activity related to our sector: energy. The volunteers have the objective of responding to the efficiency-related matters, as they answer questions about the state of the home’s electrical installations and provide advice to save on bills.

Along these lines, and in collaboration with several NGOs and social services, we are launching this corporate volunteering initiative, framed within the initiatives that we are carrying out to promote access to energy, especially among the most vulnerable groups. The employees who offered to participate have the opportunity to help families with limited resources and to optimise their electrical installation by offering them savings and electrical energy advice.

“We want to offer employees the chance to help those who are less fortunate through an initiative related to our area of activity, which is energy.”

Inmaculada Fiteni, Head of Sustainability Projects at Endesa

On one hand, our volunteer activity is centred around providing recommendations to families to optimise their electrical bill and lower their energy consumption, and on the other hand, to identify risky situations in electrical installations, which will later be rectified by certified installers. In the future, we also want to work on a more profound energy rehabilitation in homes, in collaboration with other companies that will donate the materials.

The project started in Zaragoza in late 2015, and was later also implemented in Barcelona. After two editions that helped 167 families in a situation of energy vulnerability, at Endesa and Endesa Foundation, we set the objective of having the project gradually reach a global scope.

To expand the number of beneficiaries, we have organised training workshops that volunteers, families directly involved in the programme and other people that may also benefit can participate in. We also notified the families who meet the requirements that they can benefit from the social rebate. In total, we estimate that the average economic saving has been more than €120 per year per home in these two first editions.

“When you are able to help these families that have so many difficulties, they welcome you into their homes and this fills you with satisfaction.”

Mariano Rivero, volunteer in Zaragoza

In 2018, the programme grew nationally, reaching nearly 2,500 families, thanks to the incorporation of the Red Cross, which joined the project through its eight official headquarters to become the general coordinator of its third edition. Throughout this new stage, in which we’ve also collaborated with the NGO Ecodes, more than 200 Endesa and Red Cross volunteers have spread the initiative to 14 Spanish cities.

With this agreement, various interventions are being carried out to help alleviate energy vulnerability situation in people’s homes. This included training for families through workshops about efficient consumption and bill optimisation, customised orientation and applying savings and safety measures.