The Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Resilient Communities Fund’s core aim is to help communities become more resilient in the face of storms, severe weather and prolonged power interruptions.

The SSEN Resilient Communities Fund 2023 is now open for applications, with a total of £280,000 available to eligible community groups, community councils and charities in the central southern England SSEN network area. Grants will range from £1,000 to £10,000 for single area projects, although exceptional multi-community applications may be considered up to a maximum of £40,000.

SSEN’s Resilient Communities Fund is now in its ninth year, and in that time has seen a wide variety of applications that have all sought to boost communities through improving resilience and responding to the needs of their residents in adverse and difficult circumstances.

The deadline for applications to the fund is 5pm on Monday 31 July 2023, and applicants are asked to consider the following criteria for funding, which seeks to support projects falling under these two categories:

• Resilience for emergency events – To enhance community facilities, services and communication specifically to support the local response in the event of a significant emergency such as extended power loss.
• Vulnerability – To protect the welfare of vulnerable community members particularly during significant emergency events such as extended power loss, through enhancing their resilience and improving community participation and effectiveness.

The SSEN Resilient Communities Fund Panel, will review applications and determine which projects should receive funding, with the successful applications announced in the autumn.

Following the conclusion of this final year of the Resilient Communities Fund, SSEN Distribution will be developing and launching a new fund in the later autumn of 2023. While continuing to support community resilience, this new fund will seek to include environmental resilience and the adoption of low carbon technologies.  Full details and timescales will be announced later this year.

The website is live with additional information which can be found at www.ssen.co.uk/resiliencefund.