YORKSHIRE Water plans to cut its own energy bills.

It has announced a major energy efficiency partnership with The Carbon Trust.

The partnership's activities will be delivered through Action Energy, the Carbon Trust's energy efficiency programme, which helps businesses and public sector organisations cut their costs with free, professional advice and assistance.

Yorkshire Water, which provides 1.7 million households and 140,000 businesses with water and sewerage services, is a major energy user, using mostly electricity for pumping millions of tonnes of water per day. Now the company has set a target of making substantial savings on its energy bill this year.

As a starting point, the energy efficiency partnership between the Carbon Trust and Yorkshire Water has a specific objective of assessing the feasibility of implementing software to optimise water grid energy usage.

This project has the potential for impressive savings in electricity consumption, which, in turn, could lead to large reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, one of the main gases responsible for global warming.

Other areas for savings being considered include renewable energy, combined heating and power, energy awareness, supply chain training and waste water treatment works optimisation.

Graham Dixon, director of the waste water business unit at Yorkshire Water, said the new partnership was "a demonstration of our commitment to improving the environment."

Updated: 10:56 Thursday, March 11, 2004