We provide expert advice and assistance to home owners, landlords and private tenants in assessing and sourcing funding and quotations for insulation, heating and renewable energy upgrades in the South of England.
Energy Efficiency
Advice
Home Insulation
Services
Heating System
Upgrades
Renewable Energy
Solutions
Fuel Poverty
Reduction
Ridgewater Energy, based in Wimborne, Dorset, delivers practical, independent energy‑efficiency advice and manages FREE and funded grant schemes that help households improve the energy efficiency of their homes, reduce energy bills, and lower carbon emissions.
We work in partnership with local authorities including BCP (Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole) Council and Dorset Council, energy networks, community organisations such as Citizens Advice and charities such as Prama, Help and Care & Poole Waste Not Want Not.
This page explains what services we offer, who they are for, and how to access support.
We support residents through every stage of improving home energy efficiency — from initial advice to accessing and delivering FREE measures.
Impartial guidance tailored to your property, heating system and your personal circumstances in‑home or over the phone, to identify energy‑saving opportunities and what funded grants schemes may be available to you (all subject to terms and conditions).
We may be able to offer free replacement white goods/kitchen appliances including fridges, freezers, fridge-freezers, cookers and washing machines.
Our accredited experts are able to advise on retrofit measures that may be necessary, in order to receive funded measures and to improve an existing property’s energy efficiency. This is initially assessed via a telephone call or email exchange.
We can often trigger referrals to a large network of other support organisations for people who need further help.
Ask our Experts
Targeted help for vulnerable households struggling with high energy costs, whether on a low income, suffering from poor health, in receipt of an eligible benefit and sometimes even based on where they live and their home’s energy efficiency rating (EPC).
The eligibility criteria is vast and many people are surprised they are eligible for funding. Click below to view example criteria.
We offer advice on meeting Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) and provide information & support on Damp & Condensation issues.
Contact us directly or be referred by a partner organisation.
We assess your home and circumstances.
You receive tailored advice and information about available schemes.
Where eligible, we support you through accessing funded improvements and arranging the installation of the measures.
Our telephone and e-mail advice is always FREE and the majority of our grant schemes are 100% free. Ridgewater Energy do not carry out or endorse cold calling on the doorstep or over the phone. Terms and conditions apply.
Ridgewater Energy offer a FREE, independent and impartial service. Our telephone and e-mail advice is always FREE and the majority of our grant schemes are 100% free. There are only limited circumstances, where certain grant schemes require a contribution, which is usually only on a tenanted property whereby a landlord would be liable to make a contribution towards the cost of any work.
This is a difficult one to answer, the funding criteria is vast, yet complex and we always suggest to contact us to confirm what might be available. As a standard though, the main criteria’s includes if you, or someone in the household is in receipt of an income related benefit, or suffering from poor health, or on a low income. There are many other criteria that could mean you would be eligible for help, it also comes down to if you live in the BCP Council or Dorset Council area.
It varies, there are some schemes like home visits and appliances which may only take a few weeks from enquiry to completion. For the larger retrofit schemes it may take 3-12 months from your first enquiry to receiving your installation. This can change significantly based on funding availability and installer availability.
Funded schemes are always changing, this is based on the maximum budget allocation we are allowed to spend and the timescales, which are usually only 1 to 2 years. We explain more about our current schemes we can offer on our PROJECTS & SERVICES page, but if in doubt, we always suggest you CONTACT US.
Funding is provided from a range of sources, including network operators, energy companies, UK government and Local Authorities, which for us is BCP Council (Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council) and Dorset Council.
Anyone living in the property that meets the eligibility criteria, usually (but not always!) means that the property can receive the funded scheme, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the homeowner, but it can’t be based on a landlords circumstances or someone who is only a temporary resident.
We are based on the Ferndown Industrial Estate, in Wimborne, Dorset. We can only cover the Dorset area, although we have had special contracts that have seen us manage projects in other areas on occasion.
We only install small FREE energy saving measures such as light bulbs and draught proofing, as part of a home energy advice visit, we do not install the large measures such as insulation, or renewable energy technologies. For these larger measures, we work with a number of trusted and reputable local installers, that are experts in their field.
No, Ridgewater Energy never door knock or cold call, and we would never endorse such activity. We recommend you seek professional advice from organisations such as Citizens Advice or your local council if you are unsure: BCP Council or Dorset Council.
A number of our referrals come from organisations such as local councils, included BCP Council and Dorset Council, local Citizens Advice, Frontline NHS workers (including NHS Social Prescribers) Faithworks, Christians Against Poverty, Shelter, and Prama etc.
We are always working on improving how we can best support our community, our accreditations include:
If you’d like advice or want to find out whether you’re eligible for a local energy‑efficiency scheme, please contact us. We’re here to help you stay warm, save energy, and reduce costs.
We design, develop and deliver fuel poverty projects, and offer consultancy to Local Authorities.
Download and read our helpful factsheets, they include advice on topics such as:
Ridgewater Energy have also worked in conjunction with a number of organisations, in order to develop an Energy & Money Saving Booklet, tailored to the BCP Council and Dorset Council area. Commissioned by BCP Council and Dorset Council, the booklet contains a number of hints & tips for every day guidance, methods to help reduce your energy use, tools to manage your budget & energy usage and a list of local organisations that can assist you.
