Free electricity on the cards for thousands of council tenants

THOUSANDS of council tenants could benefit from free electricity during the day after Hull Council said it may expand a pilot “green” energy scheme being installed in 500 homes in the city.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 council homes could end up with PV panels, which create electricity from sunlight, subject to the Government continuing to provide financial incentives in low-carbon technologies.

Council-owned firm Kingstown Works Ltd is doing the installation work on south-facing rooves. At a cost of £8,750 per house, the bill for 500 will be £4.38m.

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Tenants will get free electricity during the day, with any excess going to the National Grid. The panel will start turning a profit for the council after the costs have been paid off in around seven or eight years’ time.

Only nine have been installed so far, but KWL says it is confident the 500 will be completed by March when tariffs designed to encourage investment in low carbon technologies could be cut.

Tenants will be selected on the basis of “fuel poverty” – defined as a household that needs to spend more than 10 per cent of its income on fuel.

Electricity manager for KWL Andy Wilson said people were being advised to make best use of the free daytime electricity: “We would advise them to change their habits, not necessarily putting the washer on before they go to bed. It’s a lifestyle change.”

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The council has ruled out installing panels on the grade 2* listed Guildhall, but will be covering a large area of the roof at Pryme Street car park with PV panels.

A new report shows council buildings have been producing more carbon year on year since 2007, partly because of the opening of the Wilson Centre and Hull History Centre.

The council has to pay tax of £221,000 this year as a result of the Coalition introducing a flatline rate of £12 per tonne of carbon emitted. The final toll would have been far higher – £480,000 – because of schools, but that has been top-sliced from the final bill. East Riding has to pay a similar figure of £238,464, less £230,160 for schools.

Coun Martin Mancey said: “The effects of two extremely cold winters increases energy consumption, but setting that aside I am confident that our various initiatives will start to see a reduction in carbon emissions in the coming years.”

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Two “world-leading” companies have been commissioned to look at reducing emissions across buildings, streetlights and fleet vehicles. He said the PV scheme was a “big investment but the returns are very good and pay for themselves within the first half of 25 years.”

According to an earlier report the pilot will make a small contribution – just one per cent – towards Hull’s target of reducing carbon emissions by 2020.

Coun Mancey said: “They are a relatively small contribution, but nevertheless the only way we are going to reduce our emissions is by a whole range of small contributions, there’s no easy big hits.”

The council is also trying to reduce its carbon footprint by cutting the number of buildings they occupy.

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But there is scepticism about whether a sell-off of redundant buildings will succeed in a stagnant market. One worker said packing them all in Kingston House didn’t make sense. “It’s 40-year-old, not thermally efficient, a glasshouse in the middle of summer and freezing in winter. There’s no market for commercial and retail anyway. Business is flat and it’s going to be for a while.”

The roll-out of the PV programme will depend on whether the Government extends tariffs beyond next March. Schemes which are installed by then can count on an index-linked rate over the next 25 years.

Figures show Hull Council’s carbon emissions went up from 54,981 tonnes in 2007/8 to 56,153 in 2010/11, an increase of 2.13 per cent. Last year a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide was poured into the Earth’s atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuels.

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