This week’s announcement of energy price increases by British Gas and npower have brought into sharp relief the cost of energy to all our residents. It is sadly part of a much wider picture where large organisations put financial pressure on hard pressed families. With Labour in opposition nationally for the next three years there is sadly little the parliamentary party can do
However, at a local level we can fight back. As leaders of local authorities we are well placed to help them manage their ever increasing fuel bills and we are keen to do as much as possible to help put money back into their pockets. Since Oldham launched its energy switching scheme in association with Ichoosr in early September we have been overwhelmed with expressions of interest from local authorities across the United Kingdom. Our scheme is a true expression of cooperative values in that everyone is eligible to participate and the more people who join in the greater the benefit for everyone. We are confident that we can offer up to £200 off household fuel budgets and are particularly proud that ours is one of the first switching scheme to include households with prepay meters. Moreover, unlike other schemes being promoted any commission or referral fee is returned to the participating authorities. In Oldham we intend to create a community benefit fund that will allow the community to flag up and support local concerns – our own version of lottery funding.
The energy switching industry is still in its infancy but developing rapidly. We believe that we can work together to increase the potential benefit to residents and throughout the UK. We have chosen our partner Ichoosr after careful consideration. They have extensive experience of the energy switching industry and of working with local councils in other European countries. They are also supporting the energy switching campaigns of Unison and the Labour party.
Our energy switching campaign is part of a much wider campaign to increase the social wage of Oldham residents where we sadly have some of the lowest wages in the country. In association with the local bus company we are reducing bus fares by 30 per cent for all new and existing members of the local credit union. We are currently investigating if we can create a local hours bank to support working families who are in danger of losing tax credits because their main employer has had to reduce their working hours. We were practising ‘predistribution’ before the academics invented the word!
If you want to find out more about our scheme please go to www.oldham.gov.uk/fairenergy. You and your family and friends can join it now (just make sure you have a recent utility bill to hand). If you are a councillor we are organising a national conference at the LGA in London on Tuesday October 23 between 12-2pm. The briefing will be an opportunity to meet some of the staff and councillors from Oldham Council who have been most involved in establishing our scheme. Interest is high but there are a limited number of places available. If you want to attend please contact Paul Wheeler at [email protected] or call hime on 07884 312238.
Cllr Jim McMahon is leader of Oldham Council and Cllr Aroj Shah is the lead member for the energy switching campaign