What is the Big Switch Off?

The Big Switch Off is a campaign encouraging households, businesses, schools and community organisations across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to switch off all unnecessary electrical appliances and lighting.

The campaign is taking place over the period of a week between the 12th and 18th October 2009 to help people save money, energy and the environment.

Over £1.8 billion worth of energy is wasted by leaving appliances on standby at work and home in the UK. By joining in, local residents could potentially save over £13 million.

Get involved

Whether at home, work, school or in your local community you can join in the campaign and switch off.

And we want to hear from you! Tell us how you are getting involved and what you will be doing for the big switch Off

Who we are
The campaign is lead by ENABLE, the Leicestershire Environment Partnership, and North West Leicestershire District Council. It is supported by Blaby District, Charnwood Borough, Harborough District, Hinckley and Bosworth, Melton Borough, Oadby and Wigston Borough, Leicester City and Rutland County Councils as well as Groundwork Leicester and Leicestershire and Rural Community Council (Leicestershire and Rutland).

Working with Central Networks, which supplies electricity in the Midlands, we will be monitoring the amount of electricity used during the big switch off allowing us to measure how successful we have been.

*The Big Switch Off
At work*

Saving energy makes good business sense
Many companies think of energy as a fixed overhead but saving energy is actually one of the easiest ways to reduce costs and improve your reputation. Simply by switching machines off after use, or turning the thermostat down by one degree, you can make real savings on your energy bill. And just reducing it by 20% could add the same amount to your profits as a 5% increase in sales.
Take part in the Big Switch Off and find out how much energy and money you can save!
Why take part?
Be part of a high profile initiative
Reduced energy costs for your organisation
Free resource pack to run your own staff campaign
Helps you to work towards internal sustainability targets
Instant online publicity from pledging to take part
Good PR opportunities
Access case studies online to find out how other organisations are getting involved

How do I get involved?

• run a simple staff campaign to encourage employees to help save energy at work. When you pledge to take part on-line you will automatically be registered and a free campaign resource pack will be emailed at the start of September.
• take and record your own electricity meter readings for two weeks – the week before and the week of the Big Switch Off. The results can then be compared and fed back to employees to encourage further energy savings. Promote your success through the campaign website.
• Write a short case study outlining how your organisation has already made energy and cost savings. We will be pleased to promote this through the website and the local media.

Join in today