Westmill Trading Dividend

The Trading Dividend is a payment to members for purchasing the electricity that Westmill Wind produces. It is similar to the vouchers provided by retail co-ops to their members; however, our Dividend is paid as a credit on the electricity bills of members who buy their electricity through Your Co-op Energy. The amount of the Trading Dividend is agreed each year at the Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind AGMs.

For many years, Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative and Westmill Solar Co-operative have had the goal to sell directly the electricity which we generate to our members. The Trading Dividend has been introduced as a step towards this goal.

First introduced in 2021, the scheme was created following overwhelming support from our members when presented the option in a 2020 survey.

The Trading Dividend also helps the Westmill Co-operatives to achieve two of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA)’s Principles: member economic participation and cooperation among cooperatives:

Member Economic Participation

As the Trading Dividend was created following large support from the Westmill members, the scheme enhances the members contributions to, and democratic control of, the capital of their co-operative. A portion of the annual revenue of both Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar Co-operatives goes towards the Trading Dividend payments.

Cooperation Among Cooperatives

Your Co-op Energy is an energy provider with a focus on community energy.  A key partner in the community energy sector, they source electricity from around 90 community generators, including Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind. As Your Co-op Energy is also a co-operative, the Trading Dividend helps all organisations involved to achieve cooperation among cooperatives.

If you have previously registered for the scheme and still purchase your electricity from Your Co-op Energy, then you will be automatically registered for this year’s scheme and you do not need to do anything.

Information about future schemes will be posted here.

Once you have signed up to the scheme as a Your Co-op Energy customer, no further action is needed. 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 the 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 2025, it was agreed to pay £50 per household per co-operative. 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 Trading Dividend previously, you will see it credited on your energy bill as ‘Westmill Trading Dividend’. If you can see this credit on Your Co-op Energy statement, then you are already signed-up for the 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 check all previous applicants for continued eligibility alongside applicants from this year.

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

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

If you are a member of both Westmill Solar and Westmill Wind, then please select “Wind and Solar” option on the sign-up form.

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

Each member household will be entitled to a maximum of one Westmill Wind Trading Dividend and one Westmill Solar Trading Dividend in total. If you and your partner are both members of Westmill Solar Co-operative, your household will only be entitled to one Westmill Trading Dividend, and you can choose who applies.

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.

Unfortunately, not at this time. However, Your 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, Your 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.

Your Westmill Wind and Westmill Solar Boards are working to ensure that the Trading Dividend benefits as many members as possible.

Members can switch away from Your Co-op Energy at any time (subject to any relevant exit fees being paid for your tariff). If you switch providers, you will then automatically cease to be eligible for the Trading Dividend.

The 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 added to our Community Funding scheme, which gives grants to community organisations.