York schools, street lights and libraries to switch to green power

Schools, street lights and council buildings could switch to a green energy tariff – as part of plans to tackle climate change.

City of York Council is looking to switch to Npower’s green electricity tariff from April.

It would set the council back an extra 0.05 pence per kWh – nearly £7,000 extra a year.

Cllr Nigel Ayre and Cllr Paula Widdowson will be asked to approve the plans at a meeting on Monday (13 January).

York Explore libraries would also switch to the new tariff.

Flexible contract

A report prepared for the meeting says:

• City of York Council is committed to reducing carbon emissions within its own building stock.

  The current contract is flexible.

  This means if an individual school for an example chooses to remain on the current tariff the school can remain within the overall contract arrangement; thereby not requiring them to re-procure this energy contract.
  

It says the council spent more than £1.7m on electricity in the last year – with street lighting consuming the most energy.

The report adds that switching will help York with plans to reach zero carbon by 2030 and protect the environment.