General questions
What is the Big Energy Race?
Big Energy Race supports community groups in England, Scotland and Wales to help local households reduce their energy consumption. Teams compete to see who can take the most energy-saving actions.
Who is the Big Energy Race for?
It's for any community group that wants to help local people reduce their energy bills - you don't need to have past experience in energy projects. For example:
Eligibility criteria is shown in the terms and conditions.
What's in it for groups taking part?
Apart from helping members in your community, you can also:
When does the race run?
From 12 January till 31 March 2015.
What if I’m not sure if it’s for me?
That’s no problem. If you just want to join and try it out, that’s fine. You can choose how involved you want to be.
We’re just a small group, does that matter?
No. We know that groups are different sizes, and have different resources available to them. Most challenges can be done by groups of any size, and we will look out for groups who achieve a lot for their size.
How much does it cost?
The Race is completely free – it’s been developed and delivered by environmental charity Global Action Plan and is funded by npower, EDF Energy, British Gas and Green Energy.
I don’t belong to a group. Can I take part?
Yes - search for a team near you, or one representing your interests.
Register here to find the resources to make your race a success.
Getting started
How does my group get started?
Once you’ve registered your group you’ll be directed to your Team HQ, which has the challenges you can take, supporting resources and access to your team’s scoreboard on the Team News page.
Do we need any equipment in order to take part?
Team members will need access to the internet to choose challenges and record what they do. Computers in libraries or community centres will be fine.
How do we prove what we’ve done?
The Big Energy Race website enables you and your team members to upload information, photos and videos blog posts which share your experiences of the actions you’ve completed and show the impact it is having in your lives and in the lives of those around you. The best blog posts will also contribute to winning a ‘Team of the Week' prize.
What is Team HQ?
Team HQ is your group’s Big Energy homepage which contains the information and resources you need to complete challenges.
What is Team News?
This is where you can monitor the progress of your group’s activities and points total, as well as writing articles about what you achieve.
I haven’t received my registration email. What should I do?
Your registration email will be generated automatically. If you haven’t received it, your system may have identified it as junk mail. Please check your junk mail folder. If it is not there, please contact us.
I have registered but can’t remember my login details.
Your username is your email address. If you have forgotten your password, go to the forgotten password page and an email will be sent to your email address.
Challenges and prizes
How do I know which challenges are right for my team?
Consult your team members to see what you’d like to do as a group - you can complete challenges from any topic in any order. Find out more about the Big Energy Race challenges.
How do points work?
Your team earns points by completing challenges. The more challenges you take and the more team members complete them, the more points your team earns. You earn extra points by uploading blog posts, photos or videos showing your energy-saving activity.
What is the ‘Team of the Week’?
Each week, we’ll chose a Team of the Week and Region of the Week. These will be chosen by the oranisers based on the most engaging blog posts, photographs and videos uploaded. Find out more.
What prizes can teams win?
The Team of the Week will win a selection of energy saving prizes.
From the end of February the top team from each Region will compete for a final prize of £20,000 towards a community energy project.
Whether you win or not, you will have grown together as a group and had fun whilst delivering some vital energy support to people in your local community.
Website and Privacy Settings
What can other people see about my group on the website?
Your community group’s involvement in the programme and your team’s points total will be public, though no personal contact details will be visible publicly. All blog posts must be approved by the group leader with user access; otherwise they will remain only privately visible by that group’s team members.
Please refer to your group’s child protection policy or photo policy when uploading photos or videos of children to the website.
More questions?
Please contact us or see our terms and conditions.
