Public sector organisations like schools and local authorities are now able to take advantage of several different funding streams to help them make energy efficiency improvements to their buildings so that they can make savings on their energy bills. This includes a grant as well as an interest-free loan.
What grants are available?
There haven’t been any energy efficiency grants available to public sector organisations for a while until June 2020. This is when we launched our unique Save Energy Package designed specifically to help organisations to save money and energy.
The Save Energy Package helps organisations to find a better energy deal to lower their energy bills and an energy efficiency grant that can be used towards LED lighting and solar PV. The grants can offer up to £100,000 of funding but the amount received will depend on your site situation, energy consumption and type of contract. This grant is not government funding and is not available anywhere else as it is exclusive to us. And for this reason, you can combine the grant with an interest-free loan to pay for the rest and the loan will be repaid by the savings.
What funding is available?
Public sector organisations have limited options as they can’t take out a loan which leaves very few funding options available. To overcome this issue and to assist the public sector in making energy efficiency improvements, Salix Finance was created by the government to bridge this gap.
Salix Finance is an interest-free government loan that has been designed to be repaid through the savings you make on your energy bills from installing energy efficiency measures.
We will help you in applying for Salix funding and ensure that you make a successful application.
For example, a school upgrading to LED lighting is estimated to save at least £5,000 per year on their energy bills. The install costs are £25,000, and as Salix Finance is interest-free the school can repay the loan over five years at £5,000 per year which is achieved through their energy bill savings. Any additional savings from installing LED lighting, such as higher bill savings and lower maintenance costs, can be kept by the school.
Note: Salix will only approve projects for funding where they are confident that the savings can be achieved to repay the loan by doing due diligence on the project and checking the numbers.
Who is eligible?
The Save Energy Package is available to all organisations including the private sector as long as they manage their own energy bills and they haven’t signed a long-term energy contract.
Salix Finance is available to public sector organisations including maintained schools, local authorities and NHS bodies. Academy schools are eligible but funding for these schools is limited, however, we can offer other operating lease options.
What savings could be achieved?
The savings that each school could achieve can vary due to their energy consumption, energy contract, energy efficiency measures already installed and what can be installed.
For example, one large school has a current annual energy cost of £164k and their new energy contract offers £19k annual energy bill savings just from changing their contract.
BUT they don’t just save that, they also benefit from receiving a Save Energy Fund pot of £21k to use towards energy efficiency projects.
Having installed LED lighting, they are predicted to save a further £35k per year on their electricity bills.
So, in total, they are saving £54k per year on their energy bills after switching supplier and upgrading their lighting, almost a 1/3 of their original energy bill.
To fund the lighting upgrade, they used the £21k Save Energy Fund grant and an operating lease (this could be a Salix loan or another) to pay the rest and they repay the loan through the energy savings which more than cover the cost.
How to take advantage of these funding offers
Get in touch to see what savings you can make. Apply for your grant by completing our Save Energy Package contact form to find out more.When you apply we will assess the potential energy bill savings and grant available through reviewing your energy bills. We will also provide a free, no-obligation site survey to assess your eligibility and potential savings from installing LED lighting and/or solar PV, so book a survey today.
