Energy cut to be rewarded (From Witney Gazette)

Energy cut to be rewarded

9:56am Wednesday 30th January 2008 in Witney By David Horne

A £20,000 carrot is being dangled in front of villagers in an innovative community-wide scheme to cut energy consumption.

Southern Electric unveiled the reward at a public meeting last week, to update people in North Leigh on the progress of the scheme. The aim is to make the village Oxfordshire's first energy-efficient community.

The company has been monitoring the homes of 35 volunteers over the preceding months to get a picture of how much energy they use, including infra-red surveys on heat loss through inadequate insulation.

Stephen Millward, Southern Electric's energy efficiency manager, said: "The thermal imaging survey gives you an actual picture of heat loss from your house.

"Finding out how well insulated your home really is is vital if you want to cut your energy use."

Residents are now being invited to trial new smart meters and monitoring devices, alongside the home energy surveys and free advice workshops. Over the next two years, the village's energy consumption will be measured, using a meter installed at the local sub-station.

Mr Millward said this would feed back data to the village via a community website, so residents could plot their progress.

If North Leigh, with about 800 homes, as a whole meets its ten per cent target of energy cuts during those two years, Southern Electric will donate £20,000 for community use, according to Mr Millward.

Candy Kerpache, lead co-ordinator the the village scheme, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for the residents of North Leigh, New Yatt, and East End to work together to do something really positive to save energy.

"The promise of a £20,000 reward to be spent on something that will benefit all those involved in the challenge will be a great incentive to achieve our goal."

The community-wide project is one of the first to be undertaken by a UK energy supplier. It is a combined link-up between the village's energy efficiency group, now called Challenge North Leigh, Thames Valley Energy Centre (TVEC), and Southern Electric.

The company is to use the data and feedback from residents to formulate a blueprint for other communities to band together in cutting energy consumption.

Resident Geoff Feasey, the village's own 'Mr Efficiency', first campaigned for North Leigh to go down the energy efficiency road three years ago following a university study. He said: "I am taking a bit of a back seat now, but I am still very keen to see how it goes. It will benefit everyone."