A housing association covering Moray and the wider Grampian area is to join a new consortium in setting up their own power company.
The move by the Grampian Housing Association is a bid to cut energy bills and help in fighting against fuel poverty.
Neil Clapperton, Chief Executive of the association, said that they will become part of an ‘alliance’ of associations seeking funding to set up a new utility provider, with the hope that they will then be able to help tenants to save at least £100 a year on their fuel costs.
Mr Clapperton said: “Advising tenants, insulating homes and improving heating systems is only part of the battle to reduce fuel poverty.
“But a group of Scottish housing associations thinks it has now cracked the outstanding problem of what to do about rising energy bills.
“It is creating Our Power, a utility company build on the housing association model with clear social impact – to cut tenant electricity and gas bills and eliminate the extra cost of pre-payment meters and so directly reducing fuel poverty across the country.”
Funding is being sought to make the idea a reality with hopes that the new company can be started in 2015.
Grampian Housing Association owns and manages around 2000 rented properties in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. The association also has 400 shared ownership properties and 100 under shared equity.