Funding secured for new scheme to cut energy bills

Dover District Council has been successful in its joint bid for funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change's competition 'Cheaper Energy Together'.

In collaboration with Gravesham, Dartford and Tunbridge Wells local authorities, the councils have been awarded £20,700 to develop and promote a collective switching scheme across the four authorities.

The funding will help the four authorities set up a scheme for their local areas, which will assist households to switch energy supplier and get a better deal on their energy bills. The scheme will enable consumers to group together and use their combined market power to negotiate a lower energy tariff and aims to make the process easy for first-time switchers to take up the money-saving opportunity. The funding will also aim to reduce fuel poverty across the four local authorities and help to reach government targets.

The 'Cheaper Energy Together' competition was described by the Department of Energy and Climate Change as 'heavily oversubscribed'. With only £5 million available, 114 bids were received, requesting £14.8 million of funding. Money has been awarded to 31 successful projects, covering over 94 local councils and eight voluntary and community sector organisations in Great Britain.

The scheme is in the early stages of development across the four councils, but the aim is to be up and running in spring 2013. Further details on how residents can become involved will be available soon.

Cllr Nicholas Kenton, DDC Cabinet Member for Environment said: "This is good news and we are very pleased to have received funding towards the development and launch of this innovative scheme, which has the potential to give residents access to the best energy deals on the market."