We aim to make a real difference to people's lives

We believe in supporting the sections of our communities that are most in need as this is where we can make a real difference.

Bringing energy to life in the classroom

Our flagship community relations programmes and the strong community relationships we have built give us the opportunity to set ourselves apart and offer us a platform for communicating our Changing Energy strategy.

One of our key investment areas is education and the E.ON Energy Experience is a great tool we have developed. It is an education resource that helps teach 5-16 year olds about energy; so far more than 8,760 primary and secondary schools have registered on the programme, which is based around an interactive website with supporting classroom packs. It helps young people to understand the different sources of energy we use, their merits and what their own personal choices will mean locally, nationally and globally. As its name suggests, the E.ON Energy Experience doesn't just tell young people about energy, it enables them to experience it through four distinct themes of Energy Home, Energy Town, Energy Nation and Energy World.

We involve our own employees in the Energy Experience and during 2007, we trained 120 volunteers to deliver 250 hours of sessions in primary and secondary schools. So far more than 315,000 schoolchildren across the country have enjoyed the Energy Experience. In addition, we developed a touring play called The Town of Total Darkness, where young children get to be energy detectives. This was performed in 44 schools across the UK. We also hosted the UK's first secondary school energy conference, aimed at 14-16 year olds. The input from the students was fantastic and they got the opportunity to ask a panel of our senior managers what they thought about the energy industry and such topics as climate change. We also use our sponsorship of the Conkers outdoor environment centre to reinforce the Energy Experience message through interactive games and exhibitions.

We also aim to encourage young people to consider engineering as a career and so we've created plugin2engineering, an educational scheme specifically tailored to partner schools and colleges in the Midlands region. This programme is designed to support and enhance teaching around the subject of electricity in secondary schools across central England. Working with 21 partner schools, it brings the principles of electricity to life - showing 11 to 16 year olds what it is really like to work in the energy industry - and demonstrating how lessons taught in the classroom can be applied in the real world.

Another key area for educational investment concerns our older customers. In 2007 we launched EnergyRight, a new project run in conjunction with Age Concern which is aimed at helping older people understand and manage their energy use better at home. It was piloted in Nottingham, and by the end of the year had been extended to other parts of the East Midlands, Herefordshire and Worcestershire and parts of the North West.

Volunteers are recruited locally by Age Concern, trained in energy efficiency with our help, and then go into older people's homes to offer basic advice on improving energy efficiency around the home. Where appropriate, older people are referred to our CaringEnergy team. This team can provide other services to their customers, such as benefits entitlement checks, free loft or cavity wall insulation (where eligible) and access to their supplier's Priority Services Register. In 2007, we recruited 129 volunteers who carried out 861 home energy checks.

For the ninth consecutive year, we offered our electric blanket testing and replacement service free of charge to older people, again in conjunction with Age Concern. Testing sessions were held in 25 locations across the East Midlands and North West England and all blankets underwent a safety check. We tested 2,632 blankets, of which 1,717 were deemed unsafe and destroyed. Those that failed were replaced free of charge.

In 2007, we received over 9,000 unique visits to our SOURCE website. This resulted in 422 applications for funding from groups asking for over £9 million of grants. We supported 17 projects, ranging from small energy efficiency makeovers of village halls, to major investments in sustainable energy solutions.

We've developed a number of schemes linked to our sponsorship of The FA Cup, designed to take the passion and magic of this world-famous tournament into schools. Pride of place was the National FA Cup Day, in which 300,000 primary schoolchildren took part. Schools received free packs to help them create a day of fun activities for the children. This included games linked to reducing the carbon footprint of football matches, English lessons designed to bring The FA Cup to life and maths problems which were also linked to the competition. Former England captains Alan Shearer and Tony Adams were our ambassadors on the day.