Tenants switch to cleaner energy

12:30pm Tuesday 1st July 2008

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TENANTS will soon be switching to natural gas for the first time - thanks to a cleaner, affordable energy initiative.

Nearly 40 Cestria Community Housing properties at Boyntons and Conyers Avenue, in Nettlesworth, near Chester-le-Street, will be switched from coal to gas, while a number of privatelyowned homes on the estates will also be able to acquire a gas supply.

The scheme is a joint initiative between Cestria Community Housing and Community Energy Solutions (CES), a non-profit distributing community interest company set up by the regional development agency, One NorthEast, to eliminate fuel poverty.

As a result, residents will benefit from reduced costs and carbon emissions.

The project has been welcomed in the community, where a number of residents are living in fuel poverty and have been hit by rising fuel bills this year.

The project is part of Cestria Community Housing's wider investment programme to transform about 4,500 homes in Chester-le-Street.

Cestria Community Housing's director of housing and communities, Paul Stephens, said: "We are delighted to be able to help give tenants and residents access to this fuel which the rest of the country has been benefiting from for years.

"It is one of our major priorities to ensure that our tenants live in warm and comfortable homes. This is just one way of ensuring this is possible."

David Lacey, operations director for CES, said: "This is great news for residents of Nettlesworth. Having an instantly accessible gas supply to heat our homes and our water is something so many of us take for granted, but residents like those in Nettlesworth will tell you how difficult it can be if relying on these outdated fuel sources.

"Installing gas supplies means not only cheaper fuel bills, it also helps every one of these 80 homes do their bit for the environment by reducing their carbon emissions."

Benefit entitlement checks are being made available to all residents, and owner-occupiers on the estate may also be eligible for a grant of up to £2,700 under the Government's Warm Front Scheme.

Tenants will be told of the plans at a public event at Kimblesworth Village Hall, from 3pm to 7pm tomorrow.