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Dorset Home Energy Consortium has been awarded £128,000 from the Energy Saving Trust to help save energy locally.

The Consortium, whose membership includes eight Dorset Councils, is one of only 40 organisations nationwide to receive money this year. The funds will be used to finance Dorset’s new ‘Warm as Toast’ campaign, which aims to provide advice and financial assistance to people whose health would benefit from better heating and reduced fuel bills.

Cllr Bob Williams, the Borough of Poole’s Executive Spokesperson for Environment and Prosperity, said: "We are delighted that this Consortium, led by the Borough of Poole, has won funding from the Energy Saving Trust. It will be used to finance a special ‘Healthy Homes’ pack, containing offers for energy grants and loans, as well as tips and gadgets for saving fuel. The packs will be targeted at people throughout Dorset, who could most benefit from warmer homes - people like the elderly, asthma sufferers or people with very young children. "

HECAction is an Energy Saving Trust scheme aimed at assisting local authorities implement the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA). The Act aims to improve the energy efficiency of domestic households and allow for lowering of fuel bills, to lower carbon emissions, and to address fuel poverty by providing affordable warmth.

Each year the Energy Saving Trust distributes £3million of Government money to local councils. Under the HECA programme, local authorities are required to bid for the money by submitting applications that demonstrate how they would use the cash.

Kirk Archibald of the Energy Saving Trust, said: "Local councils have an important role to play in delivering energy efficiency at a local level. As a result of HECAction and the hard work of all the councils involved, an estimated 7,000 gigawatt hours will have been saved during the lifetime of all the schemes. This equates to 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide – which is enough energy to power Cardiff or Belfast in a year."

Further information about energy saving measures is available from Poole and Dorset Energy Advice Centre on freephone 0800 512012.

The announcement of this year’s winners marks the end of the sixth year of the HECAction programme. To date, 346 local authorities have received funding totalling £23 million. This has helped 85 per cent of all councils set up energy schemes to meet their HECA obligations.

Through HECAction, councils have installed over 500,000 measures and provided advice to over 300,000 households. These energy efficiency measures have enabled councils to save over 90,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. Carbon dioxide is the UK’s main greenhouse gas and has been linked to climate change.