Charity retailers cut energy bills by over £16,500 a year with carbon reduction strategy

A Greater Manchester charity shop chain has slashed its energy use through a Green Economy-supported LED lighting project, boosting sustainability while protecting vital funds for daily operations. With funding help and expert advice, St Ann’s Hospice now saves an estimated £16,589 per year — boosting sustainability while protecting vital funds for daily operations.

St Ann’s Hospice is a palliative care specialist providing end of life care for Greater Manchester residents. Their retail arm operates nine charity shops across Greater Manchester specialising in the retail of second-hand goods to raise funds for their hospice.

Accessing funding to install more efficient lighting

They approached Green Economy for support to cut costs and reduce their energy use. After an initial assessment with Joe Ledsham, Sustainability Consultant at Green Economy, they identified key strategies to make savings across their site. Joe commented:

"As part of our carbon reduction audit it became clear that switching to LED lighting upgrades across nine of their Greater Manchester sites would be a quick win to reduce consumption and costs." 

Ryan Perkins from St Ann’s Hospice said:

“The Green Economy team helped us put together an application for their Energy Efficiency Grant which was being offered to Greater Manchester organisations. The grant was approved in November 2024, and we were awarded £5,000 to help with the LED installation.”

Expert support to find the right installation partner

They were introduced to Priya Sirpal, Business Consultant at Green Economy, who helped the team assess their options and capacity for green technology solutions. Priya said:

“St Ann’s are a purpose-driven organisation, and they needed help reducing their climate impact and save on energy. We identified an opportunity for them to upgrade their lighting systems to LEDs, a low carbon alternative to standard fluorescent lighting which offer quick and significant savings.

“I put the project to our network of green technology installers and soon had a perfect match for the St Ann’s team, removing the stress of digging through endless supplier lists themselves.”

Leaning into quick energy wins

The St Ann’s team were introduced to Airis UK, a provider of LED technologies who won the project. Priya made introductions and ensured all parties agreed on the project costs and timeframes. 440 LED light fittings were then installed across eight charity shop locations and one of St Ann’s distribution centres.

Overall, the installation is estimated to generate 50,516kWh in energy annual savings, £16,589 in annual cost savings, and 11.38 tonnes of CO2e each year, with a payback of just 18 months.

“It was a pleasure working alongside the Green Economy and St Ann’s Hospice for this project,” says Ben Duffield, Sales Director at Airis UK. “We believe it was very successful with as limited disruption to the client's day-to-day working as possible. Ryan and his team at St Ann’s Hospice were fantastic, making our lives very easy during the install. We look forward to working alongside them all again in the future.”