Category Heating and energy   Show all

• Live Well Cheshire West

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  If you're looking for support in your local area, look no further than Live Well. Live Well Cheshire West is a website produced by the Council, working with the NHS. It can help you find information about local services, support, activities, and events for everyone across a broad range of subjects including social care, health and wellbeing, education, employment, support for carers and much more.

  Visit the Live Well page and put in your postcode or area, along with the type of support you are looking for, to find services near you. You can also filter the results by all sorts of different requirements like whether the service can cater to dietary requirements, or whether they are open before or after school times. Live Well offers support to people of all ages, including children and families.

  Live Well Cheshire West

  Money Matters

  There is a dedicated Money Matters section which can show you support for bills, budgeting, debt, benefits, and more. For example, if you live in rural Cheshire and are worried about affording hot meals for yourself or your family, you could visit Malpas Community Kitchen on a Wednesday lunchtime and enjoy a hot meal for free, no referral needed.

  Live Well Cheshire West: Malpas Community Kitchen

  
  

  If you are struggling to pay your bills as the cost of living rises, you may be eligible for benefits that you are not yet claiming. Live Well can direct you to this A-Z list of welfare benefits and grants, made by Turn2Us.

  turn2us: Your Situation A-Z

  
  

  You might need a new fridge or washing machine but not be able to afford a large sum right now. On Live Well, you can see a whole list of organisations that provide white goods and furniture at affordable prices. Changing Lives Together offer new and reused furniture for low prices, as well as many other services like distributing food that would otherwise have gone to waste, connecting socially isolated members of the community, and providing a community bus service to help residents get around.

  Changing Lives Together: What we do

  
  

  Watch this short video which shows you how to find the information you're looking for on Live Well Cheshire West.

  If you know anyone who is not online, Live Well can be accessed at any local Cheshire West and Chester Council library. Staff at the library can help people get online and find services to improve their computer skills.

• Save money with a simple boiler hack

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  Do you own a combi boiler? By turning down your boiler flow temperature to 60 degrees Celsius or below, you could save £112 a year. It is best to seek professional advice before adjusting your boiler. You can ask to have it done with your boiler's annual service.

  Turning down your boiler flow temperature could also reduce your household's annual carbon emissions by 173kg. This equates to 429 miles driven by the average vehicle.

  Many combi boilers in the UK burn more gas, generate more carbon emissions and cost more in energy bills than they need to. Nesta, a charity working on innovations for social good, states that the average household has their boiler flow temperature set at 80 degrees. However, they found that by reducing this to 60 degrees it can cut gas use by around 12 per cent and in tests only made the warm-up time around 10 minutes longer.

  Since October 2022, when Nesta launched the Money Saving Boiler Challenge, over 180,000 people have adjusted their boiler flow temperature, saving a total £20m on energy bills and 31,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

  Getting your combi boiler flow temperature adjusted is easy, free, and one of the best ways to cut energy bills. Find out more on Nesta's website, but please take care when adjusting boiler settings - consult a professional first.

  Money Saving Boiler Challenge

  
  

  More money saving tips from Nesta

  1. Turn down the temperature on your radiators to the mid-point on the dial. By reducing the setting on radiators outside the living room, such as in bedrooms and non-living areas, your household could save £68 a year.
  2. Turn down the hot water temperature on combi boilers to 42°C. Turning down the hot water temperature for taps and showers on a combi boiler could save a typical household £26, or 2 per cent off their gas bill, per year.
  3. Reduce your hot water cylinder temperature to 60°C. Homes that have heating systems with a separate hot water cylinder can turn down the temperature of the cylinder itself so that you aren’t heating water unnecessarily. Setting your hot water cylinder to 60°C could cut 2 per cent off a household's gas use, or £26 off a typical gas bill, each year.

  You can find more energy saving tips on the Money Saving Expert website:

  Money Saving Expert: Energy saving tips - checklist to save £100s