Pioneering, energising, rewarding: Philip Wallace on our partnership with Coventry City Council

We recently celebrated the first anniversary of our 15-year partnership with Coventry City Council. And over the first year, we’ve worked closely with the Council to make Coventry a more sustainable place to work and live.

To find out more about the partnership, its achievements so far and what else is to come, we spoke to our Head of the Coventry Energy Partnership, Philip Wallace.

How did the first year of our partnership with Coventry City Council go?

We achieved a huge amount in the first twelve months of this transformative partnership, not least of which have been several energy and community benefit projects and the development of a long-term energy plan for the city. This is something which has not been done before in the UK.

We’ve installed new electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the city centre, supported families by upgrading their homes to be warmer, more comfortable and cheaper to heat through the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) scheme and provided lessons on sustainability and renewable energy for over 450 schoolchildren – among other initiatives.

The last year has enabled us to form a strong foundation for our partnership and will help us commit the focus and resources to deliver multiple, transformative and innovative projects in the city for years to come.

What have been your key highlights from leading this partnership?

Being the first partnership of its kind in the UK, I’m delighted everything we’ve achieved so far which could only be achieved through partnership and close collaboration with the Council. It’s been great to see some of the projects being delivered, drawing on expertise across our business and with Council colleagues.

I’m a Coventrian and E.ON’s UK home is Coventry, so it’s great that we’re able to make a difference to our city. We see the challenges in the city but also all the good things about Coventry and the multiple opportunities to make things better. As an energy company or a Council acting in isolation, we can only make a certain level of impact, but through partnership, we can make a real difference and truly invest in the future of the city and its residents and businesses.

A true highlight for me is hearing feedback from those involved in the partnership. One of the schools which benefitted from the lessons we have provided said that learning opportunities like these are excellent and help enhance the coverage of important topics like sustainability and good stewardship in the school curriculum.

Councillor Jim O’Boyle Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate Change recently described our partnership as exciting and completely innovative, stating how it will help Coventry develop in a way the Council couldn’t have achieved alone. 

What impact would you say the partnership is having for Coventry and its people?

We’re so pleased to be making a difference in our home city. E.ON has been based in Coventry for 30 years, and our skills, expertise and love of the city, combined with the Council’s passion and dedication to the people of Coventry, is a winning formula when it comes to making citywide changes that will make a real difference. We’re helping to make homes warmer and the city greener and creating green jobs that provide necessary skills for a rapidly changing energy landscape; overall, a more sustainable place to work and live.

As a socially responsible company, we always make sure that what we deliver has a positive impact on communities – and this is the same aim as the Council. We’re developing and delivering initiatives in Coventry that are targeted at groups for which we can make the most difference, whether that’s supporting young people leaving care or inspiring the next generation to consider the opportunities a career in energy could give them.

We’re also running a pilot in Coventry, through E.ON Next, to make some of our most vulnerable customers’ homes more energy efficient and cheaper to run, helping to lower sustainably their bills and risk of debt. The pioneering scheme sees E.ON Next bring together direct financial support to ease debt in the short term, while also providing free energy efficiency measures, sustainable solutions such as solar panels and batteries, plus a brand-new time-of-use tariff.

It’s schemes like this that make me so happy to say we’re delivering real and lasting change for the residents of Coventry.

What do you think makes this partnership so special?

Our work with the Council shows the impact that partnerships such as this can have. We’re harnessing the skills and abilities of the two organisations and Coventry’s position as one of the country’s automotive, industrial and creative heartlands to transform the local economy and open access to millions of pounds of private sector investment over the next 15 years.

This partnership is opening the opportunity to make improvements to the city that people both want and need. We’re providing insulation for homes, more energy efficient public buildings and schools, supporting the shift to locally-produced renewable energy, electrifying transport and, perhaps most importantly, developing local skills and creating jobs.

Our work with the Council has set the blueprint for how to form long-term partnerships to deliver a transformation in cities. We’re enthusiastic to use our expertise to help other cities across the UK on their own clean energy journeys. This partnership is showing that transformation is needed in infrastructure, transport, housing and energy, and the only way to achieve this is through the public and private sectors coming together, as we’ve done in Coventry.

What can we expect to see over the next 12 months?

We want to make sure we deliver some truly transformational projects in Coventry.

We’ve already started work on upgrading community buildings with the aim to reduce energy costs and improve comfort levels, making a big difference to the people and communities using the facilities. Moat House Leisure and Neighbourhood Centre, Foleshill Library, Wilfred Spencer Centre, and 454 Foleshill Road which hosts Coventry’s Families for All Hub, will all receive energy efficiency measures such as replacement windows, loft insulation, LED lighting, solar panels and heat pumps.

We’re also making great progress on our project to install solar energy in the city, with a major solar farm in development and by improving schools in Coventry through measures such as solar panels.

We’re also developing strong connections with other key public sector, business and third sector stakeholders across Coventry, which are really important to be able to achieve the aims of the partnership to transform the city to the benefit of all.

I’m confident that 2025 will be a very positive year for the Strategic Energy Partnership, taking on all the lessons from the past year and building on the strong foundation of what we’ve already achieved together.