A new registration period has been launched for a Peterborough City Council scheme that saves residents money on their energy bills.

The first round of Ready to Switch saved householders an average of £122 a year across all tariffs and dual fuel monthly direct debit customers saved an average of £149 a year. Some residents have reported much bigger savings of over £250 a year off their current spend on gas and electricity.

Householders will now be able to sign up for the collective switching scheme until Monday 8 April and all they'll need is a copy of their latest energy bill. Residents can sign up in the following ways:

•Log on to www.readytoswitch.co.uk


•Call Peterborough Direct on (01733) 747474

•Visit our Ready to Switch registration desks at Bayard Place on Broadway in the city centre

In the previous round of the scheme almost 1,800 city households signed up to save on their energy bills and over the next month or so there will be an extra emphasis on signing up families that don't speak English as a first language and vulnerable families in Peterborough.

Peterborough City Council bid and received funding from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to translate information into Polish, Lithuanian and Urdu. Council workers will now be giving presentations to community groups at key locations such as mosques and churches, focussing on Central, Park and East wards.

Councillor Nigel North, Cabinet Advisor to the Leader of Peterborough City Council on Environment Capital, said: "We were very pleased with the first round of the scheme which has brought many of the registered householders some excellent savings on their gas and electricity bills.

"We've got some extra funding for this round and DECC has been very supportive of our scheme, using it as a case study for other innovative energy projects across the UK. One of the main objectives was to target people in fuel poverty in the city and this money will go towards achieving this goal."

(CD/GK)