A CHARITY covering Essex, Herts and parts of Greater London which specialises in providing free counselling and therapeutic support to children and young people is saving energy and money thanks to a new electronic timer for its boiler, donated by the E.ON Energy Action Fund.

The previous timer at charity Young Concern Trust’s premises, YCT House on Harlow’s Maddox Road, was an old 24-hour dial timer system, which did not allow for different settings at weekends.

With the new timer, heating is no longer coming on at weekends when the building is empty, and YCT is already seeing savings of more than a quarter on its heating bill as a result. Over the course of a year, this saving could fully fund a short period of counselling for a young person, or could cover the cost of a suitcase of toys and puppets for use with primary schoolchildren in their counselling sessions.

Suzanne Doxey, Community Relations Manager for E.ON, said: “Through our Energy Action Fund we’ve given cash to projects undertaken by community groups and charities which either result in a reduction in the amount of energy being used, as is here in Harlow, or energy being generated from a renewable source.

“The £225 given to YCT demonstrates how small, basic energy efficiency measures can really help reduce how much energy is used and how much money is spent.”

Janice Wilson, Senior Administrator for YCT, said: “As a charity, we’re always looking to reduce our overheads so that more of our funds go to those who need them. We’ve delivered emotional wellbeing support to children and young people in this community for 28 years, and the therapeutic hours we provide have doubled over the past five years. However, the need for our work continues to grow, and reducing our heating bills means more money for our core work.”

Since 2013, the E.ON Energy Action Fund has given more than £80,000 to 50 community groups and charities in England, Scotland and Wales.