OVO Energy is offering free radiator keys to help households save £155 on energy bills – here's how to claim yours

Energy supplier, OVO, has launched a new community pilot scheme today to help households improve energy efficiency and save money on bills by providing free radiator keys and expert-led advice to help those looking to save energy at home.

Knowing how to cut costs on energy bills is of paramount importance now more than ever, especially as temperatures are set to plummet to subzero just this week alone, many of us will be keen to brush up on our tried and true methods to keep a house warm in winter while still keeping bills low. One of these tried methods is bleeding a radiator, to ensure it's working at its absolute best efficiency, which will ultimately save you in the long run.

With this in mind, OVO Energy has partnered with community charity Plunkett Foundation, working with 10 shopkeepers from local village stores and corner shops from Kent to Cumbria to help households save at least £155 on their energy bills, by offering free radiator keys to incentivise people to bleed their radiators this winter.

Here's how to check if your local store is involved in the scheme and how to claim your free key and further energy bill help without so much as having to leave your neighbourhood.

OVO launches community energy efficiency scheme nationwide

The community scheme comes at a fitting time, considering that many of us have officially declared this a better time than any to turn on the heating. Of course, if the talk of heating is involved, then as we mentioned earlier, knowing how to bleed a radiator is an important bit of knowledge to have in your back pocket.

While OVO has revealed that 56% of Brits would like to bleed their radiators, 19% actually have no idea how to do it. Enter, OVO's community energy efficiency scheme, equipped to clue you up on just that problem.

Stores participating in the scheme

The full list of stores partaking in the scheme can be found below: 

• St Tudy Community Shop, Bodmin, Cornwall
• Trawden Forest Community Shop, Lancashire 
• Winster Village Shop Association Limited, Winster
• Flintham Community Shop, Nottingham
• Smarden Community Store, Smarden, Ashford
• Clapham Village Store, Lancashire
• Nenthead Community Shop Ltd, Cumbria
• Hindon Village Stores, Salisbury 
• The Cotherstone Old Chapel Project, Barnard Castle
• Aston on Clun Community Shop, Aston on Clun

How to participate in the scheme

Found your local on the list above? Lucky you. Here's how to take advantage of the benefits of the scheme.

OVO explain that community members simply need to ask participating shopkeepers to borrow a free radiator key. Admittedly, radiator keys aren't the most expensive thing on the market, going for no more than around £5. However, if there's a chance for us to secure one without paying anything, you can count us in!

Once you've asked about the scheme at your local shop, you can then expect to be provided with guidance on energy efficiency measures, including the age-old question of how to bleed your radiators.

Households will be encouraged to return to keys to stores once finished, allowing more community members to benefit from one of the cheapest and easiest ways to improve heating circulation in your home.

What if you don't live close to a participating store?

If your local shop unfortunately didn't make the cut, it's not all doom and gloom. OVO is still offering free radiator keys to all those who head over to OVO's Instagram and follow the steps to sign up. So, it's a win-win situation.

Commenting on the energy efficiency scheme, Gráinne Regan, head of heat at OVO says, 'Bleeding radiators and draught-proofing may seem like small acts, but simple changes like these can make a genuine difference to energy bills. With corner shops playing such an important role in communities, they are the ideal place for us to engage people in energy efficiency to help cut costs this winter.'

Claire Spendley, community business manager at Plunkett Foundation concludes, 'We're so grateful that OVO has chosen to support the work we do with local community-owned shops. Many of our shops are located in rural areas that don’t always have easy access to the information or tools they need to improve energy efficiency.'

'We hope to see many customers taking advantage of the scheme.'