Energy project is lighting up the future

A scheme aimed at making a Western Isles district the first LED community in the UK has dealt with referrals from around 140 homes for the free lighting upgrade.

Tighean Innse Gall is working with community windfarm charity Point and Sandwick Trust on a five-year project to convert the whole peninsula to energy-efficient lighting in a bid to tackle fuel poverty in the area.

The LED Energy Communities project officer Dan Morrison has been working on replacing the lightbulbs in houses.

Under the lighting project, each household can get up to 14 bulbs free of charge. At about £6 each, that is a gift of about £84 which should cut yearly bills by around 10 per cent The cost of the bulbs is being covered by Point and Sandwick Trust, who have committed £72,000 a year to the project.

Point and Sandwick Trust general manager Donald John Macsween said: “We are top of the national league of fuel poverty statistics.

“A wet, windy climate, ageing population, low wages, a significant number of properties below the national ‘tolerable standard’ and aboveaverage prices for fuel of all types all combine to make fuel poverty a major issue.

“Point and Sandwick Trust have a strong commitment to helping people in direct, practical ways, and by helping to reduce consumers’ carbon footprint we are partly fulfilling our long-term aim.”