Westmill Trading Dividend

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

Westmill Solar members must apply to receive the Trading Dividend via a form on the Your Co-op Energy webpage.  https://energy.yourcoop.coop/westmilldividend/

If you are already a Your Co-op Energy customer, you will simply need to enter your customer number in the form to confirm your eligibility.

If you are not already a Your Co-op Energy customer, then you will need to switch to Your Co-op Energy ahead of applying for the Trading Dividend.

Once you have signed up to the scheme as a Your Co-op Energy 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 registered this year and from previous years and the Co-operatives will each validate from their records that you are indeed a member.

Eligibility for the Trading Dividend will be conditional on the relevant household remaining a Your  Co-op Energy customer until the date of the Trading Dividend is paid.  Payment is expected to be made in April 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.

The amount of the Trading Dividend is discussed and agreed at the Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar Annual General Meetings.

In 2023 it has been agreed to pay £50 per household per co-operative. the Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind. This means that if you are a household with members of both Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind your household will be entitled to £100 under this scheme.

If you were signed up for the 2022 Trading Dividend, you will see it credited on your Energy Bill as ‘Loyalty Reward’ around the 17th 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. If you and your partner are both members of Westmill Solar Co-operative, your household will only be entitled to one Westmill Solar Trading Dividend and you can choose who applies.

If you are a member of both Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind then please select the “Wind and Solar” option in the Trading Dividend question on the form.

If you are a member of one of the Co-operatives and someone else in your household is a member of the other then please both apply and Your Co-op Energy will then apply both the Westmill Solar Trading Dividend and the Westmill Wind Trading Dividend to your Your Co-op customer account.

The key organisations involved in the Westmill Trading Dividend scheme are Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar Co-operatives and Your Co-op Energy.

Your Co-op Energy is an energy provider with a focus on community energy. They are one of the largest purchasers of community-owned renewable energy in the UK and they purchase electricity from both Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar Co-operatives.

Your Co-op Energy are a part of the Midcounties Co-operative. In 2019 Your Co-op Energy partnered with Octopus Energy. Your Co-op Energy is a white label of Octopus Energy. In practice what this means is that Your Co-op Energy add their brand, they promote the tariffs and provide switching support through their website and call centre. Octopus Energy provide customer services and administrative support.

As mentioned above, it is Your Co-op Energy, and not Octopus Energy, who purchase electricity from Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar Co-operatives which is why your supplier needs to be Your Co-op Energy for you to be eligible for the Westmill Trading Dividend scheme.

Your Co-op Energy views the partnership with Westmill Wind and Solar as a positive for their co-operative principles. Particularly Principle 6, cooperation among co-operatives. Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar Co-operatives also value the relationship with Your Co-op Energy. Their cooperation with Your Co-op Energy enhances two of their guiding principles: cooperation with other co-operatives and member economic participation.

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 Your Coop Energy at any time (subject to any relevant exit fees being paid for your tariff). If you switch away 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.

Any commission paid to Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar from Your Co-op Energy, for each household that is not already a Your Co-op Energy customer, will be automatically put to Community Funding.