An initiative to help businesses in Suffolk and Norfolk improve their energy efficiency has now identified cost savings of more than £3m.

Business Energy Efficiency Anglia (BEE Anglia) has now carried out reviews for 513 organisations, identifying savings averaging £6,335 per business or nearly £3.25m in total.

This represents an average carbon saving of around 52tonnes per business or nearly 27,000t in total ? equivalent to taking around 17,700 new cars off the road a year.

BEE Anglia is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and is being delivered across the region through a partnership between Suffolk and Norfolk county councils, Groundwork and NWES.

Matthew Hicks, Suffolk County Council cabinet member for environment and public protection, said: “This is a great milestone, and shows the significant potential for financial savings that can be unlocked when businesses have access to independent expert advice.

“We look forward to working with more businesses across Suffolk and Norfolk to help them thrive in a sustainable manner.”

Among the businesses helped by BEE Anglia is Plinth Medical, the medical couch manufacturer now based at Occold, near Eye.

“Our new site needed a complete renovation,” said managing director Niall Dyer. “BEE Anglia were extremely helpful with energy saving advice and recommending grant funding for LED Lighting. We’ve seen a significant difference in quality of light and expect to see a substantial reduction in our running costs.”

As well as identifying huge cost savings, BEE Anglia has also so far awarded £184,737 in grant support for energy efficiency projects, including radiant heating, vehicle tracking, wood burners and lighting. These grants have contributed to energy efficiency projects worth a total of £660,000.

And the scope for grant funding has been widened to enable any energy efficiency measure to be considered, with approval being based the ability to demonstrate sufficient associated energy savings.