WORCESTERSHIRE County Council could save £250,000 a year — if it spends about £76,500 on a dedicated energy saving team.

The cash-strapped council is considering splashing out on an energy manager and a team of officers in an effort to reduce its annual £5 million energy bill relating to school and council buildings.

The council, which needs to make £45 million savings over the next four years, has already received the prestigious Beacon Authority Status for its work on tackling climate change — it has reduced its carbon emissions by 50 per cent since 2003 — but feels more can still be done through improved staff awareness and education programmes.

At Monday’s cabinet meeting Councillor Anthony Blagg, cabinet member for waste and green environment, said: “An energy manager will be very helpful in saving money and saving energy while reducing our carbon emissions.”

The idea was recommended to cabinet following a climate change scrutiny report. The document that went before cabinet said the cost of employing a permanent energy saving team could be recovered within eight months if the team implimented the Carbon Trust’s highest priority recommendations. Those included introducing a formal energy policy, increased monitoring, motivation and marketing, and reviewing IT and data centre energy efficiency at County Hall. It would cost £3,255 to do those things but the annual savings could be as much as £121,860.

Councillor Clive Smith, who was part of the tackling climate change scrutiny group, said if an energy manager was employed they should be subject to very close scrutiny to “make sure these savings are being made”.

Councillor Adrian Hard-man, cabinet member for finance, said the energy manager would be seen as more of a “champion and motivator” rather than just acting as someone who kept an eye on meters. “We have done a lot of the very easy things and we are getting more into the area where we’re not going to find simple technological solutions — it will be more of a behavioural change,” he said.

Meanwhile, the council, which produces 98,000 tonnes of CO2 a year, has also signed up to the 10:10 campaign but because of the progress it has made in recent years it is aiming to reduce its carbon usage by three per cent during 2010.