ESSEX County Council has to pay out more than £1million each year because of carbon dioxide.

The council is charged by the Government under the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme.

The introduction of part night lighting across the county has helped to reduce the amount the council pays.

It says switching lights off between midnight and 5am saves taxpayers £1.4million a year, partly because of a reduction in the charge.

However, the council still paid out £1.04million in 2014/15 under the scheme, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions among major public and private organisations. Derrick Louis, the councillor responsible for transformation and corporate and traded services, said: “Essex County Council takes energy reduction, which has a direct impact on the amount of CO2 we produce, very seriously.

“We are running a number of schemes to reduce both our energy usage and CO2 emissions, including energy management controls and energy-efficient lighting upgrades in our buildings, and an energy-efficient plant replacement programme at County Hall.

“We are currently exploring proposals for generating energy from closed landfill sites and a pilot scheme to install photovoltaic (solar energey) cells at a number of our sites.”

Organisations were charged £12 per tonne of CO2 from 2011/12, when the scheme was introduced, until 2013/14.

The charge was increased to £16.40 per tonne last year.

The change means the county’s bill reduced only slightly in 2014/15, despite a major reduction in CO2 emissions.

It was charged £1.24million for using 103,170 tonnes in 2013/14, and £1.04million for 63,212 tonnes the following year.

Mr Louis said: “Part night lighting reduces energy usage and CO2 emissions and will save Essex taxpayers approximately £1.4m per annum by the end of the current financial year.

“A number of pilot schemes are also being run to test and evaluate the use and benefits of LED street lighting.”