Businesses and community groups across Dorset are now reaping the rewards of reduced energy bills thanks to measures installed with the help of a council scheme.

Through our Low Carbon Dorset programme, organisations have been accessing free advice and grants to help them reduce their energy use, generate their own renewable energy, and lower their carbon emissions.

Over 400 organisations in Dorset have benefitted from the programme since it launched in 2018, and more than £6million has been given out in grants.

These grants have helped over 200 organisations install a whole host of green measures, including LED lights, improved insulation, low-energy heating systems, solar panels and much more.

One business to have benefitted from the scheme is local fish and chip firm Harlees who received £20,000 to help fit solar panels and upgrade an old, inefficient chip fryer at their shop in Verwood.

Before installing their new fryer and panels, Harlees were paying just under £10,000 a year on electricity and gas.  Since receiving their grant and installing their new green measures, their gas use has reduced by 30 per cent and they are saving around £1,000 a year on electricity.

Dr Kaylee Herbert, director of Harlees Fish & Chips said:

“Working with Low Carbon Dorset on this project has helped towards future proofing our business with regard to energy and prompted us to look at other locations across the business that could benefit from similar measures.”

In the past year, electricity and gas prices in the UK have risen rapidly.  According to figures from the UK government, the average cost of electricity in the UK has increased by a staggering 80 per cent since 2022.

Cllr Noc Lacey-Clarke, Dorset Council’s Lead Member for Environment, Travel and Harbours, said:

“It’s fantastic to see the impact that support from our Low Carbon Dorset programme is having on local businesses and communities.

“Improving energy efficiency and generating renewable energy isn’t just good for the environment, it also offers some protection against price rises in the global energy market.”

One organisation that would have been badly affected by these price rises had they not installed energy-saving measures is Gillingham’s community leisure centre RiversMeet. 

In 2019, RiversMeet received a grant of £130,000 to help pay for a state-of-the-art heat pump system for their swimming pool.  Thanks to this new heating system, RiversMeet have reduced the amount of energy they use by just under 20 per cent and are now saving around £45,000 a year in energy costs.

General manager of RiversMeet, Jake Parry, said:

“If we hadn’t invested in this new low-energy system when we did, I honestly couldn’t say whether the leisure centre would still be operating in the same way that it is today.

“The last three years have been a challenging time for the leisure industry, during the pandemic we were the first to close and the last to re-open.

“The grant we received from Low Carbon Dorset has played a huge part in keeping RiversMeet open to the community.”

Funding for the £17million Low Carbon Dorset programme has come from the European Regional Development Fund and the private sector.  This funding is set to end this month (March 2023), and applications for grants are now closed.

Businesses and community groups can still access free advice on how to improve energy efficiency and install renewable energy from the council’s Low Carbon Dorset team.

For more information on the programme and to apply for advice for your own business or community group, visit the Low Carbon Dorset website.