He adds that free water heating was delivered multiple times last year, not just on Christmas morning.
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This has triggereda worrying rise in fuel povertybut efforts to help are afoot.
Renewables, in particular, could be coming to the rescue.
EnergyCloud is a non-profit social enterprise with a voluntary board of 11 people.
People who receive free hot water get text message alerts so that they know when it is available.
It is making a difference in peoples lives, adds Roddy.
Costing the surplus
Surplus energy from wind farms is an increasingly expensive problem.
So far, that hasnt been a barrier for EnergyCloud.
All participants have been voluntary and Roddy says 65,000 additional homes have already expressed an interest in joining.
Other European ventures have sought to help low-income households around the world access renewable energy directly.
More than 80 million have been raised via the platform so far.
Theres plenty of technology out there batteries, panels, converters, says Trine founder Christoffer Falsen.
Its really about being able to accelerate that with the injection of capital.
To date, nearly 3 million people worldwide have accessed electricity from renewables funded by Trines investors.
Previously, European ventures were not attractive enough in this regard.
A long-running example is the community in Eeklo, Belgium that benefits from wind energy harnessed byEcoPower.
It provides electricity to customers more or less at cost.
We have a lot of wind in our region, says Jan de Pauw, project engineer at EcoPower.
There are 65,000 EcoPower members in Flanders, of which a few thousand live in Eeklo.
The advantages have become clear during the last 12 months, as energy bills rocketed in Europe.
EcoPower estimates that its members saved around 700 on their total bill for 2022.
Similar schemes are blooming around Europe,including Ripple Energy in the UK.
(TNW asked to speak to a participant but were told none was forthcoming.)
Big, white and pointy onshore turbines have occasionally been described as eyesores by some.
People got this straight away.
This was not a hard sell, he says.
