Job Introduction
Portsmouth City Council’s Energy Services Team seeks to employ an Energy Assistant (Domestic) to provide energy related advice and guidance to residents in Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant, and help manage and develop our outreach activities.
Your new role
Portsmouth City Council’s Energy Services Team is one of the largest and most successful local authority teams in the country, having won a series of rewards and recognition in recent times. The team consists of 14 energy professionals who between them manage all aspects of energy services for the authority and a number of external clients. Functions include: utilities procurement and management; compliance, audit and certification; capital investment pipelines; consultancy services; and domestic energy efficiency and fuel poverty mitigation.
The Energy Assistant (Domestic) role provides support and assistance to residents looking to reduce the amount of energy they use, save on their energy bills, and cut their carbon emissions. The role will support the Switched On Portsmouth, Switched On Gosport and Switched On Havant services, which provides advice and grant funded measures.
Please see the full job profile attached at the bottom of this page for all details of the role and what it will involve!
Who is the person?
The candidate should have experience and knowledge of the domestic energy sector and a passion for helping potentially vulnerable customers. The ability to work in a customer facing role is essential; with evidence of call handling and face to face customer engagement, ideally in the provision of advice about energy. The candidate should be practical and comfortable with working independently and managing their own workload. The ability to adapt to a situation presented by a customer is essential; tailoring energy advice according to the needs of each client on a case by case basis.
The candidate must be comfortable building and maintaining relationships with a variety of stakeholders, and must have excellent administrative skills and demonstrate attention to detail; as well as being confident in the use of Office programs; in particular Word, Excel and Outlook. It is desirable that the candidate hold Level 3 Energy Awareness or similar qualifications related to energy efficiency or fuel poverty, although training may be given to the successful candidate. A full clean driving licence is required.
Essential criteria:
- Knowledge of and experience in the energy industry; particularly prevailing national funding mechanisms.
- The ability to prioritise your workload to meet targets and deadlines.
- Experience in customer service, including working with vulnerable customers and managing expectations.
- The ability to show confidence, skill and knowledge in handling enquiries, whether in writing, over the phone or face to face.
- Good interpersonal skills and an ability to actively engage and rapidly build rapport with a wide variety of individuals.
- Ability to build and maintain relationships with a variety of stakeholders.
- Ability to support project administration and support project managers.
- IT skills including competence in Excel, Word and Outlook.
- Full UK driving licence.
Desirable Criteria
- National Energy Action Level 3 award in Energy Awareness, or equivalent.
- Experience in providing energy related advice to residents.
- Experience in delivering training to front line staff.
About Portsmouth City Council
Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.
We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.
Additional Information
Interviews will be held in person at the Civic Offices, Portsmouth between 7th and 17th April 2026, and will last approximately 1 hour.
Our recruitment process
Full information about our recruitment process can be found on our support for applicants' page: Support for applicants - Careers portal
You must demonstrate why you are suitable against each of the points described in the 'Who is the Person' points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience, which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. If you apply without a detailed personal statement, it is unlikely that you will be successful.
We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal
You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.
Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our career's portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council
If you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.
