In April 2020, Miller Research was appointed by Welsh Government to deliver a process and impact evaluation of the former Arbed Programme.  

Arbed was a joint Welsh Government and European Regional Development Fund-supported operation aiming to provide energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies in homes located in areas of Wales experiencing fuel poverty. The circa £50m Programme was delivered by the Decarbonisation and Energy Division in Welsh Government and in association with Arbed am Byth, which was a joint venture between Everwarm and Energy Saving Trust. It aimed to improve the energy consumption classification (known commonly as EPC rating) of approximately 3,800 households across East Wales and West Wales and the Valleys.  

The two-stage evaluation was completed in March 2022 and built on our previous experience of evaluating the Nest/Nyth fuel poverty scheme, which provides free impartial advice and support to help households reduce their energy bills along with free home energy improvement measures to low-income households living in the most energy inefficient homes.  

Our methodology for the evaluation of Arbed included the development of a Theory of Change and logic model for the programme, qualitative interviews with contractors installing energy efficiency measures, programme beneficiaries and other stakeholders, analysis of programme monitoring data and a five-wave quantitative telephone survey of beneficiary householders, conducted by our partners, Beaufort Research. 

In addition to evaluating progress against targets and outcomes, we also measured the contribution of the programme towards the well-being goals of the Well-being of Future Generations Act and the extent to which it supported the Welsh Government’s aims and objectives for the Welsh language as set out in Cymraeg 2050.