Centrica’s Local Energy Market (LEM) trial in Cornwall is inviting Cornish businesses to apply for grants of up to £1,000 to pay for energy monitoring equipment which can reduce energy bills.

Once energy management equipment is installed, businesses will be able to find out how much energy they are using across their whole site down to individual devices; pinpoint and reduce power wastage; and identify opportunities to save energy in real-time. This is the first step on the journey to joining the LEM platform.

Matt Hastings, programme director for the LEM, said: “Identifying which bits of your site are consuming most energy can really affect the bottom line for a business. Monitoring equipment systems have an easy to understand dashboard that can show you all the energy statistics for your building or site, in real time. Centrica will also provide free, remote service support for certain equipment until March 2020.”

The LEM is already supporting several Cornish businesses with energy management including Deltor Communications, Winsdon Farm, Tregerles Farm, Goonhilly Earth Station, Cornish Spring Water, Teagle and Leyonne Energy.

Centrica’s £19m trial has been set up to test the role of flexible power demand, generation and storage in over 150 homes and businesses across Cornwall. The company is working with local businesses and other large energy users, awarding funds up to a total of £8.6 million to cover the cost of a variety of initiatives.

These include: energy audits, smart technology upgrades combined heat and power units and battery storage, with the aim of helping unlock money making potential and reducing energy costs.

To take advantage of this opportunity, email cornwall@centrica.com.