Saving energy in the home

HOUSING staff joined forces with residents at Warrington to organise and attend a series of events as part of “Energy Saving Week.”
It was part of an ongoing commitment by social housing provider Golden Gates Housing Trust (GGHT) to support residents in reducing amount of energy they use.
It also focussed on how residents can save money on their fuel bills while keeping their home warm through the winter months.
During the week a number of “Energy Events” took place in Orford, Latchford and Bewsey.
Staff from GGHT and its partners, including United Utilities, Ebico and Warrington Borough Council, were on hand to offer advice on how to stay warm and book energy appointments with attendees. They also provided details on a series of regeneration projects happening in these local communities including Alder Green and the Delivering Wellbeing in Bewsey and Dallam Project.
The events highlighted a number of factors that contribute to fuel poverty, especially in the winter months.
The Trust’s Energy, Money Advice and Neighbourhoods teams were all on hand to ensure residents were making the most of their services and to remind them of the importance of allowing access for annual gas servicing. Residents were also urged to shop around for cheaper tariffs and apply for the Warm Home Discount.
More than 30 GGHT staff attended dedicated lunch and breakfast sessions, delivered by the Trust’s energy team and partners. These aimed to give an insight into the work that GGHT is doing to make its properties more energy efficient. Several staff also benefited from energy switching sessions to see if they could save money on their own bills by changing energy supplier.
GGHT chairman Roy Smith said: “We are encouraging all our tenants and residents to look at how they can reduce the amount of energy they use around the home.
“The events have proved a great way of delivering this information and we would encourage those that were unable to attend to visit our website, which contains lots of information on some of the improvements that people can take to save money on their energy bills including some low cost and no cost measures.
”We would also urge all of our residents to consider shopping around for cheaper deals from energy providers as there are big savings to be made.”
GGHT are continuing to provide energy advice in the community with further smaller sessions taking place around Warrington.
Any community that would welcome an energy related talk should contact GGHT’s energy efficiency officer, Kira Dean at [email protected]
Picture: Staff from GGHT’s Energy and Money advice teams at Westy Community Centre.