A GROUND breaking electricity saving scheme will be coming to Greater Manchester thanks to an upgrade to the city region's substations.

The substation will be improved as part of Electricity North West's Smart Street scheme, which aims to reduce the carbon emissions and energy used by substations across the region, which should also save customers money.

The substations can be found across Greater Manchester.

Electricity North West head of innovation Dan Randles said: “As the region’s network operator, we’re working to lead the North West to net zero, but we’re also committed to making sure no one is left behind during the transition.

“By creating the UK's first actively optimised network with Smart Street, not only will we save customers money and reduce carbon emissions, but it will make the network more flexible and improve capacity so we can connect new technologies like electric cars and solar panels on a large scale.”

The utilities company believes that this could be particularly helpful to the more than 8000 people living in fuel poverty in the North West.

The £18m project works by reducing the voltage supplied to homes by a few per cent at key times to ensure appliances operate at their most efficient level, ultimately reducing carbon emissions and bills for households.

This comes as part of Electricity North West's Leading the North West to Zero Carbon plan which was launched last year.

A four-year trial carried out by the company found a household’s electricity consumption was cut by between five and eight per cent, saving householders up to £60 a year on their electricity bills and cutting carbon emissions by between seven and 10 per cent.

The Smart Street scheme is set to upgrade more than 70 of the North West's 180 substations.