Sheffield heat meter pilot saves locals £238 on heating bills

Sheffield City Council says it plans to roll out the pay-as-you-go meters to all 6,000 homes on its district heating network, saving up to £1.6m a year.

The new meters allow people to control how much heating they use in the same way as a regular gas meter, but with live monitoring of usage and cost trends.

They have been fitted in 2,800 homes so far, with all 6,000 set to be complete by March 2017. 

Sheffield’ cabinet member for housing, Councillor Jayne Dunn said: “We are installing new heat meters to help our tenants save money and have more control over their heating bills.

“People need all the help they can get at a time when living costs are rising but income is not. We know things are so tight for some people that stark choices are being made between heating and eating, which in the 21st century is appalling.

“It’s really important that the council does everything it can to help people save money. If this scheme can go some way to easing any financial burdens than it can only be a good thing.”

Green homes

The work is part of the council’s five year £300m investment plan for council houses, which will help residents save money by improving energy efficiency, insulation, heating, roofs, windows and doors.

Kirsty Lambert, the director at ENER-G Switch2 which is installing the meters, said: “It is fantastic to see the residents of Sheffield benefitting from lower energy bills since the meters have been introduced.

“Our teams on site have worked closely with residents to help them understand and get the most from the new systems installed and we have received very positive feedback from them. As a business we are committed to putting residents first and helping prevent issues such as fuel poverty in social housing.”

Support for mroe efficent hoomes has takena hit on the national scale however, after the Conservative Government scrapped the Green Deal programme back in July.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change told edie that a replacement programme will be delivered by the end of the Autumn.

Brad Allen