Caritas, Red Cross and the EDP Foundation have signed a collaboration agreement regarding the ‘Solidarity Energy’ project for 2016. This initiative, which is developed in Asturias, Bizkaia, Cantabria and Saragossa, has the objective to increase the security, wellbeing and energy efficiency of all the families in disadvantaged situations. The EDP Foundation is allocating 160,000 euros to this project.

The signing of the agreement took place in Asturias with Caritas and in Vizcaya with Caritas and Red Cross, by the executive director of the EDP Foundation, Vanda Martins, and the managers of the entities in both provinces, the Caritas director in Asturias, Ignacio Alonso; the Bizkaia Red Cross president, Javier Zárraga; and the Bizkaia Caritas director, Carlos Bargos.

With this project, the entities seek to analyze, identify and implement measures regarding the reduction of the energy bill and modifying consumption habits. Around 160 families will participate this year. EDP employees from different areas collaborate in this program as employees.

‘Solidarity Energy’ is developed in different stages. The NGOs that collaborate with the program first identify the families that can be hosted, so that the company then plans the visits to their houses. In these visits, the technicians make an energy audit and elaborate an energy certificate, as well as a proposal of energy efficiency improvement for each family.

With the obtained data, the company develops an action plan for implementing the improvement measures in each household, over which the corresponding tracking and verifications will be done.

The measures adopted in these households are, among others, the substitution of the current luminaires for others with LED technology, the improvement of the efficiency of electricity and gas units, the substitution of boilers, the improvement of the heating regulation, or the security of the electricity installation.

Within the ‘Solidarity Energy’ program they also train the collaborating entities, which they then transfer to the families. This training consists of actions of consumption habits improvement and saving measures. It is the second year that the EDP Foundation makes the ‘Solidarity Energy’ program. In 2015, more than 60 families in Asturias, the Basque Country and Galicia took part in the project, which 27 EDP volunteers joined. The Foundation destined 100,000 euros to the program.

Responsible points

Another initiative that the EDP Foundation develops each year is “responsible points”. Through it, EDP clients have donated a total of 67,200 euros to 10 NGOs.

With this action, which is part of EDP’s loyalty program, customers donate the points they have accumulated to different NGOs. In turn, the EDP Foundation contributes an equal amount, and the sum of both contributions translates into a monetary amount, the final destination of which are the solidarity and environmental projects of the organizations chosen by the customers themselves. The amount given corresponds to the points contributed during 2015.

This year, Caritas received more than 20,000 euros, the Cocina Económica more than 15,000 and the Red Cross almost 12,000. Customers also donated their points to these organizations: Down Syndrome Foundation, DYA (Asociación Ayuda en Carretera), Teléfono de la Esperanza, Nuevo Futuro, Energía sin Fronteras, Fundación Oso and points earmarked for planting trees. Since this initiative was launched in 2006, the EDP Foundation has donated more than 265,000 euros.

About the EDP Foundation

The EDP Foundation’s mission is to reinforce the EDP Group’s commitment to society in the geographical areas where it operates. Specifically, its areas of action are those social, cultural, environmental, educational and research-related issues that promote a common sustainable development.