Partnership between ACRE and Utility Aid stands to help village halls reduce running costs
Specialist energy broker offering bespoke services for community buildings is the latest company to sponsor the national rural charity
At a time when energy prices are skyrocketing and creating a cost-of-living crisis, identifying the most affordable and appropriate utility provider has never been more important.
It is not just households that are feeling the pinch. Those that run England’s 10,000 village halls are also beginning to see running costs increase, which in turn impacts their ability to sustain these important venues for the benefit of their community.
Specialist brokers can help clients to find better deals from the market and save money. Which is one reason why ACRE and Utility Aid have joined forces to help the volunteers who manage these community buildings find solutions tailored to their specific needs.
Giles Hankinson, CEO of Utility Aid said, “It gives me great pleasure to announce that we have entered a new partnership with ACRE. Working with ACRE and its members is something special for us. As a business dedicated to helping not-for-profit organisations get the best value energy contracts, it makes perfect sense for us to be aligning ourselves with the work they do in support of England’s village halls; many of which are already customers of ours”.
Utility Aid have been supportive of the ACRE Network for the past few years by attending training events and sponsoring the 2020 launch of Village Halls Week which was held at the House of Commons. The broker has also published some handy tips for halls to help them save energy and money.
Richard Quallington, ACRE’s Executive Director said, “Given the current state of the energy market, we’re particularly pleased to have agreed a new corporate partnership with Utility Aid – a company that is able to provide advice to village halls worried about the soaring costs of bills. This new relationship will help us to extend our advice and information service to these important rural community buildings”.
It’s not just sourcing energy contracts that Utility Aid specialise in. They also offer the opportunity to conduct a historical audit of bills – a service which can help clients recoup overspend.
One such village hall to benefit from Utility Aid’s brokerage is Purleigh Village Hall in Essex. They are now saving a considerable sum of money which is important to them as a small hall that closed due to COVID-19 for much of last year.
Utility Aid’s website provides details of the services they offer to village halls.
