Raising energy awareness of private households and educating them on efficient use of energy is one of the key measures alleviating energy poverty and – in the long term – can lead to the uptake of further, more costly energy-saving solutions (e.g. when external funding is secured or equipment replaced after the end of its life).

Using the experience and model tools gathered within the project, mall three Polish pilot cities, 2 Hungarian cities and 2 German cities deciding to implement the campaign (Nurnberg – full campaign and Munich – recording podcasts). See details of these campaigns below:

The aim of the communication campaign in Germany was to raise awareness among citizens, municipalities, local authorities and key stakeholders about the phenomenon of energy poverty, its relevance, effects, causes and possible solutions including municipal low-cost measures through a comprehensive series of audio-interview and a social media campaign. The campaign started with sort of posts on Twitter, which was launched by DUH on the current state of energy poverty in Germany providing some relevant facts in order to raise awareness for the topic in general.  A “social media kit” for Nuremberg was also prepared and its aim was to enable them to kick-start a social media campaign on energy poverty and provided support for improving the content of the website: Nuremberg Energy Saving Project. Also a new brochure for energy poverty multiplicators was developed and disseminated for municipal professionals and key stakeholders across Germany. The brochure provides comprehensive information on the measures of the Energy Saving Project, on the consulting process itself and outlines how vulnerable households learn to save energy and money following the participation in the program. In Nuremberg in the middle of 2020 including online counseling and specific office hours, in order to reach vulnerable households during the pandemic effectively. On top of that, five audio-interviews were recorded with key municipal partners and they present how the phenomenon of energy poverty can manifest and how the municipal programs of Munich and Nurnberg tackle the energy poverty of vulnerable households on the local level.

The aim of the communication campaign in Hungary was to raise awareness of fuel poverty and possible solutions through a comprehensive series of awareness-raising and educational articles. The campaign consists of 7 articles on the Energiaklub website, Facebook and blog (Energiabox). Two of the Hungarian pilot municipalities actively participated in the campaign (Pilisborosjenő and Miskolc). These municipalities shared the content on their own social media platforms. as well as in the local newspaper

Polish awareness raising campaign in 3 Polish pilot cities has resulted in increase energy awareness of vulnerable citizens and teach them what kind of no-cost and low-cost energy efficiency measures they can implement in their households to reduce energy consumption and energy bill. In this aim ready to use kit with posts  with graphics, which contain general slogans encouraging to change behaviour and specific actions to be taken, as well as interesting facts are placed in the content of the posts. In each post, we propose several solutions for residents to reduce their energy consumption through their implementation. To inform residents what kind of activities their cities take to support energy saving films for each of the 3 project cities have been prepared. Thanks to them, citizens are aware of the measures that the municipality undertakes on its territory to improve the energy efficiency of both public and private buildings, how it supports citizens in the energy transition of its buildings, or the use of renewable energy sources for the residents' own needs. Leaflets and posters created within the project and disrtributed among the involved cities are aimed to inform the residents about no- and low-cost energy saving measures to reduce their energy bills. Among others a special website has been created for each of the project cities Residents visiting it will be able to directly open the dedicated page which includes news with the most up-to-date information on the city, energy saving, reduction of utility bills, legal changes, as well as a set of ECO tips for citizens to easily reduce their energy consumption and bills and a library full of inspiring and informative links, such as an energy savings calculator, an energy price calculator, a consumer guide to the new energy labels, an app that helps to buy for and compare electrical appliances for cost of ownership or a ranking of the most energy-efficient products on the market.