Big Community Energy Switch – York deadline

City of York Council is reminding residents to sign up to the Big Community Energy Switch by 2 February.

People will be joining together with over 170 other residents from York and 12,000 people from around the UK in the switch, that could help them save on average £169 on their gas and electricity bills.


The council and iChoosr held their first scheme between December 2013 and February 2014. A total of 751 York residents signed up, along with 36,000 people across the UK. Average annual savings for those York residents who switched was £169!

Supported by York’s Citizens Advice Bureau and Age UK York – the Save Money by Switching Energy campaign launched in December 2013. The scheme enables York residents to register for the assisted scheme through these four easy steps that can result in them being offered potentially cheaper alternative tariffs to consider switching to.

1) Anyone who pays a household energy bill can register for free. Registration is easy – you just need a recent fuel bill or annual statement.

2) Registration closes on 2 February 2015. The council’s switching partner iChoosr then gathers everyone’s registrations together and invites all the energy companies to offer their best prices. This is all done by iChoosr. You don’t need to do anything.

3) The cheapest tariffs win! Residents will receive an with details on the new tariff secured by the scheme from 16 February. It will tell you how much money you could potentially save if you accept.

4) Residents have until 16 March to decide to accept the offer or not. There is no obligation to accept and there are no fees or charges. You simply get a new offer that could potentially save you money on your energy bills. If you choose not to take up the offer, you can always register again in future schemes.

If residents are unable to sign up to this round of the Big Community Energy Switch they can join the next round, which runs from 24 March until 18 May.

To find out more or to register go to www.york.gov.uk/switchingenergy. If residents do not have access online please visit City of York Council’s customer service centre at West Offices or call us on 01904 551550.

York goes green with “Better Homes”

A landmark programme for residents to implement energy efficiency measures in their homes has been agreed to bring over £20m of investment into the region and improve over 12,000 privately owned or rented homes.

The Better Homes programme brings together the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and nine Local Authorities in the Leeds City Region including City of York Council, with the private sector partners at KeepMoat and Willmott Dixon (KSW).

The new partnership will pool the expertise and resources from all partners to deliver a home energy offer to residents which could include new boilers, central heating systems, standard and hard to treat insulation measures and renewable energy systems.

In the first three years alone, the programme aims to deliver energy efficiency measures to over 12,000 homes including a minimum of 800 in York, and create jobs and apprenticeships for local people. As a result of these efficiency measures, the programme could bring £20m of investment into the Leeds City Region and increase the GVA growth.

To launch the scheme in York, KSW will offer 80 Green Deal communities fund vouchers, targeted at specific groups/neighbourhoods. The vouchers will help with the costs of installing measures and will be worth up to £750 per resident. In addition a private home will be retrofitted with up to £15k worth of funding energy efficiency measures and will become a demonstration show house.
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Local councils hold the key to zero carbon future

Local councils have a key role to play in Britain’s zero carbon future according to a policy paper agreed by the Liberal Democrats.

Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners highlighting solar panel development in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe (from left to right: James Walker, Chris Twells, Cllr Keith Aspden and Cllr Ann Reid)

Liberal Democrat Councillors and Campaigners highlighting solar panel development in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe (from left to right: James Walker, Chris Twells, Cllr Keith Aspden and Cllr Ann Reid)

The ‘Green Growth and Green Jobs’ paper, which was passed at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Glasgow on Sunday, outlines a number of ambitious policies. The motion calls for an expansion to the government’s ‘Green Deal’ and says all homes should be brought up to EnerPHit ‘passivhaus’ energy efficiency standards by 2050. The paper calls on local councils to create arm’s length local energy companies to produce, distribute and sell electricity and heat. It also says all councils should have carbon reduction targets in local development plans and that councils should be working with local businesses to maximise renewable energy investment opportunities in their area.

In July local Liberal Democrats outlined ambitious plans to make York the greenest city in the north of England. The Lib Dem Group called on Labour run York Council to commit to achieving the highest recycling rates in the region, introduce an ambitious carbon reduction programme, and examine setting-up a doorstep food recycling service and a council-owned renewable energy company. Group Leader Cllr Keith Aspden met with Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey MP, to discuss the policy plans in Glasgow yesterday.

Speaking from Glasgow Councillor Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Group Leader in York, commented:

“This policy motion rightly puts local councils at the heart of the Liberal Democrat vision for a zero carbon Britain. It gives us the potential to make York the ‘Greenest City in the North’.

“Local councils like York should be leading the way, but since 2011 the Labour run Council has introduced a green bin tax, closed a recycling centre and overseen a rise in landfill tax and a fall in recycling rates. We need to reverse this decline and get York back to leading the environmental agenda. Ideas such as creating a local energy company and tackling fuel poverty by bringing all homes up to the highest energy standards should be brought forward.

“The Lib Dem plan for a zero carbon Britain will help to create green jobs, revive the economy, lay the foundations for new technologies, new industries and new, sustainable sources of prosperity, free the country from its dependence on fossil fuels and help tackle the grave threat of climate change.”

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