Liverpool will launch an energy company to help cut fuel poverty in the city.

The city council will sell gas and electricity at a lower rate than other suppliers through its new local firm named Liverpool LEECCY.

Nottingham City Council’s company Robin Hood has been selected as licensed energy supplier to provide low cost power.

One in seven Liverpool households lives in fuel poverty, stated the council.

Furthermore, 70,000 households in the city use pre-payment meters, paying £226 more a year on their fuel bills compared with the cheapest direct debt tariff.

That’s why the new company will also replace those pre-payment meters with smart ones.

Councillor Steve Munby, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “The new energy company will be an extremely important way of combatting fuel poverty which affects far too many households in Liverpool.

“We want to give people the opportunity to have their gas and electricity supplied by a company where profit is not the main consideration and to provide an alternative to the Big Six energy companies.”