Barnsley is pioneering new ways of cutting bills for low income households using solar power

Solar panels and, latterly, battery storage for the power produced, have helped reduce costs significantly and are bringing some solace in what is now a time of crisis as fuel bills rocket.

It has been no mean feat, especially as Barnsley has 25 per cent fewer sunny days than the hottest spots in the South of England. Yet, so far, 321 homes have benefited and more than 75 per cent are bungalows tenanted by elderly residents while 25 per cent are home to residents with pre-payment meters.

These households are saving between £250 and £400 a year on their electricity bill and the initiative now stands as a template that could be adapted for use by local authorities that still own social housing and other providers.

Energise Barnsley is a marriage between Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Gen Community Ventures, which was set up to develop and deliver community owned renewable energy projects, and Ignite, the UK’s first impact investment fund, which invites people to put their money into organisations that benefit society, with British Gas PV as solar panel installer.

Their coming together was sparked by what Andy Heald, director Gen Community Ventures, describes as “the first solar gold rush” in 2013 when the government launched a generous feed-in tariff scheme with cash payments to those who installed solar panels. That closed to new applicants in 2019.

A £1.2m loan from a charity bank, which has now been paid back, and community bonds have helped finance the initiative. The bonds are a popular way of funding projects by charities, co-operatives and not-for-profit- organisations and offer investors a good set return over a fixed term.

Andy Heald says: “The idea was to take advantage of the feed-in tariff revenue and install the panels on a number of social tenanted homes owned by the council. The tenants, schools and other council owned buildings benefit from free electricity generated with any surplus money made from the tariff, after we have paid interest to the community investors, going into a Community Solar Fund, which awards grants to organisations aligned with our principles.”

These have included a £20,000 grant to Community First Credit Union, £10,000 to the Dodworth Miners Association to replace tungsten lights with LEDs at all their sports facilities and funds for a street planting team bringing a sense of pride back to neglected streets.

The latest Energise Barnsley initiative is to use cash from the 14 years left on feed-in tariffs from the original solar panel installations, along with £3.5m funded by a community bond issue, to add solar PV panels to 1,000 of Barnsley Council’s social tenanted homes, with 100 per cent free use of the electricity generated.

Andy says: “The aim is to install them within 12 months, using the feed-in-tariff income from the 2013 solar installations, then replicate the business model elsewhere in the UK, with the same partnerships. That means a willing landlord, like Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, and a community energy company, like Energise Barnsley, to increase domestic solar generation in social rented homes and community buildings.

“The trialling of this new business model will enable more households to use local low carbon generated energy, at scale.”

Energise Barsley is also trialling the use of smart batteries via funding from Northern Powergrid. The batteries will allow tenants to store unused solar energy, which would otherwise feed back into the grid. “If you can use battery stored energy between 4.30pm and 8pm when the grid is at its busiest, you’ll be rewarded with a lower bill,” says Andy.

Getting to grips with the technology has been a learning curve for tenants and education has been vital. Age UK Barnsley, headed by CEO Jane Holliday, has done some sterling work, explaining how to use Apps and monitors.

The feedback is heartwarming. One tenant says: “We are hardly using anything from the grid. The app is brilliant and I look at it daily.” Another says: “I have a medical condition and rely on and consume more electricity than the average person and I now don’t have the stress of worrying about being able to pay my bills.” This tenant adds: “I’m dead chuffed. I don’t have to go to the centre to dry our washing anymore in the winter and it was such a struggle with my angina. I can put the dryer on now and not worry”.