300 DUDLEY COUNCIL HOMES TO BENEFIT FROM £1.4 MILLION E.ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY SCHEME

Hundreds of Dudley families are set to benefit from a £1.4m scheme from leading energy company E.ON to help them get ‘energy fit’.

E.ON is starting work on the first of 314 homes owned by Dudley Borough Council which will receive a range of energy saving measures such as solid wall and loft insulation, draught proofing and new ‘A’ rated boilers

The work is being carried out in the Pensnett area under the Government’s Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) which could save each home more than £600 a year on their energy costs .

Jon Kirby, CESP Manager at E.ON, said: “We’re committed to getting homes ‘energy fit’ and this is a great example of councils, communities and companies getting together to help people lower their bills and reduce our effect on the planet.

“We hope this is the first of a number of similar schemes we will be working on in the area. By tackling whole communities in such a way we can really start to make a difference and build energy efficiency into our everyday lives. And it’s not just these homes benefiting from the investment; private homeowners can also take advantage of reduced rates on similar energy efficiency measures.”

Cabinet member for housing, Councillor David Simms said: “This is excellent news for the residents of Pensnett and we are excited to be working with E.ON in this initiative. Anything we can do that brings in investment into Dudley and helps save money on tenants’ heating bills has got to be good news.”

Dudley South MP Chris Kelly said: “It’s fantastic that the people of Dudley will benefit from this E.ON scheme to help them heat their homes efficiently and affordably. It will save many of our residents hundreds of pounds on their bills – which is especially important now winter is nearly upon us.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the end result of this investment.”

Under CESP, more than £350m will be invested by energy companies in the next three years. The scheme was created in September 2009 to give whole-house energy makeovers to 90,000 hard-to-treat homes across England, Wales and Scotland.

To get an idea of the benefits of the renovations and how they will look, local residents recently visited an information evening in Pensnett.

Work will continue into the New Year to designated homes in Tennyson Street, Byron Street, Milton Street, Chapel Street Church Street and Queen Street.