Westmill Trading Dividend FAQs

The Trading Dividend is a payment to members for purchasing the electricity that Westmill produces. Our Trading Dividend will be paid as a credit on the electricity bill of those members of Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar who buy their electricity through Your Co-op Energy’s Co-op Community Power Tariff.

Westmill Solar members must apply to receive the Trading Dividend via a dedicated webpage. (https://www.cooperativeenergy.coop/westmillsolardividend/)

If you are already a Co-op Community Power Tariff customer, you will simply need to enter your customer number from Your Co-op Energy via a web form on the following landing page to confirm your eligibility. (https://www.cooperativeenergy.coop/westmillsolardividend/)

If you are not already a Co-op Community Power Tariff customer, then you will be taken through the process of switching onto the Co-op Community Power Tariff and as part of this you will receive your customer number from Your Co-op Energy.

There are separate webpages for members of the two co-operatives, so if you (and/or members of your household) are members of both Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar you will need to confirm your eligibility via this webpage (https://www.cooperativeenergy.coop/westmilldividend/).

Once you have signed up as a new Co-op Community Power customer or filled in your details as an existing customer then you do not need to take any further action. Your Co-op Energy will provide Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind with the details of the customers who have successfully signed up and the co-operatives will each validate from their records that you are indeed a member.

Eligibility for the first Trading Dividend will be conditional on the relevant household remaining on the Co-op Community Power Tariff for a period after the date of the Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind Annual General Meetings in 2021. We are working to ensure that once a member has confirmed their eligibility, they will not need to reconfirm it in future years.

Payment is expected to be made in July or August following our Annual General Meetings and will appear as a credit on each relevant member’s energy bill. Although the payment is made through members’ energy bills, the money for the Trading Dividend ultimately comes from Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar. The amount of the dividend will therefore be decided by Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar and it will be included in the annual accounts as payments from the two co-operatives to their respective members.

Initially the Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind boards have each proposed an annual ‘flat rate’ dividend of £15 per member household. If you are a member of both Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind you will be entitled to two £15 dividends.

The amount of the Trading Dividend in future years will be discussed and agreed at the Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar Annual General Meetings

If you were signed up for the 2022 Trading Dividend, you will see it credited on your Energy Bill as ‘Loyalty Reward’ around the 17^th of April 2023. If you can see this credit on your Your Co-op Energy statement, then you are already signed-up for the 2023 Trading Dividend and no further action is needed.

If you do not have access to your previous bills from Your Co-op Energy, you will not be penalised for signing-up again. If you are in doubt, you are welcome to complete the sign-up form again for peace of mind. We will be checking all previous applicants for continued eligibility alongside applicants from this year.

If you have further questions about receiving the 2022 Trading Dividend, please contact the Your Co-op Energy customer service line at 01608 434003 for further specifics on your account.

Please contact the Your Co-op Energy customer service line at 01608 434003 to be helped with any problems with switching your provider or information about your account.

Each member household will be entitled to a maximum of one Westmill Wind Trading Dividend and one Westmill Solar Trading Dividend.

However, if, for example, you and your partner are both members of Westmill Solar Co-operative, you will only be entitled to one Westmill Solar Trading Dividend. This is to keep the payment process simple and avoid members ‘gaming’ the process by splitting their holdings between family members.

Unfortunately, not at this time. However, Co-op Energy are committed to working with Octopus to re-introduce a choice of tariffs when market conditions permit, and while community energy remains the priority, exploration of smart/EV tariffs will also form part of this work.

Since partnering with Octopus, Co-op Energy’s focus has been on ensuring quality of service for their customers and the continued support for community energy generators through a specific Community Power tariff. Throughout the ongoing global energy crisis, volatility in the wholesale market has limited Co-op Energy’s ability to offer a range of fixed tariffs, and at present only the standard variable tariff is available.

Members can switch away from the Co-op Community Power Tariff at any time (without paying any exit fees) but you will then automatically cease to be eligible for the Trading Dividend. The Trading Dividend is intended to encourage longer-term co-operative relationships, not reward a one-off, short-term change of tariff.

Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar will receive a one-off commission from Your Co-op Energy for each member household that is not already a Your Co-op Energy customer and that switch to the Co-op Community Power Tariff via the relevant webpage.

Westmill Solar member only

Both Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind member

The commission will be £30 for each household that switches onto a dual-fuel tariff and £15 for a single-fuel tariff. All commissions received will be allocated to our Community Funding.