Lower electricity bills on the cards for Corby as part of new power scheme

Electric Corby launched its Power for the People energy manifesto at a special event in James Ashworth VC Square yesterday.

The community interest company aims to help businesses and local residents cut their energy use and bills by installing super-smart meters in homes that allow people to turn appliances on and off using their phones.

They will collect data that is amassed by the meters and eventually use it to help create a special Corby electricity tariff to make bills up to 40 per cent cheaper.

At present, it is difficult for people producing their own energy through solar power or other renewable energy sources to sell it back to the power companies because it destabilises the grid. Energy producers will only pay a small amount for the power, and then sell it back to the customer for a much higher price.

The use of smart meters will help to monitor exactly how much energy is produced and used in the town, and therefore allow local people who have signed up to access the lower pricing structure.

Nick Bolton of Electric Corby said: “We had an idea to generate energy locally so we went away and put our thinking caps on and came up with this community energy programme.

“We want to help people understand their energy use and work out how the community us using power to help Western Power control their grid.

“We’ll help people switch to their cheapest provider - 80 per cent of people have never changed their provider - and then continue to help them switch if there are better offers out there.

“In two of three years, when we’ve collected all the data, we’ll be able to offer a truly local tariff for Corby.”

Anyone wanting to get involved in the scheme or to find out more can visit the Electric Corby website, email the team or call them on 01536 560222.