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Hand turning on a faucet with a drop of water. Text: "FCHA: Getting on a Social Water Tariff." Red background with water drop icon.

Are you an FCHA tenant and a Welsh Water Customer? First Choice could help you get on a social water tariff to save money.


WaterSure Tariff


From the 1st April 2025 you won’t spend more than £532.27 a year on the WaterSure tariff.


White accessible bathroom with a shower, grab bar, and shower chair. Yellow textured mat on chair. Open door reveals light wood floor.

You can apply for WaterSure if:


a: Someone in your house has a health reason for using more water. Fore example, you need to wash more clothes or have more baths and showers.


OR


A smiling woman and three kids sit on a black couch. The kids are wearing colorful casual clothes. Cozy setting.


b: There are 3 or more children in your house who are under 19 years old who you can claim child benefit for.





You also need to receive at least one benefit to be on the WaterSure tariff.

Close-up of a water meter showing numbers, a blue button, and logos. The meter features a white background with red and black text.

To be on the WaterSure tariff, you need to have a water meter at home. If you don’t have a water meter then Welsh Water can fit one for you.




HelpU Tariff




A checklist with years 2020-2024, each marked with blue checks except 2024. A blue pen lies across the list, highlighting the pending 2024.

From the 1st April 2025 you won’t spend more than £319.03 a year on the HelpU tariff. That’s around £26.50 a month.

Please not that you have to reapply for the HelpU tariff every 12 months. You do not have to do this with the WaterSure tariff.




A woman in a floral dress signs a document handed by a woman in a wheelchair, set in front of a red brick house with white windows.

You can apply for HelpU if:

a: You are a low income household


OR


b: Someone at home receives a means-tested benefit like Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.



Choose the Tariff that suits you


WaterSure Tariff

If you think you should be on this tariff for your water please follow the link below. First Choice can do the full application for you.






HelpU Tariff

If you think you should be on this tariff for your water please contact Welsh Water directly by following the link below.






Help is coming soon!


If you are with Severn Trent or Hafren Dyfrdwy for your water then help is coming your way soon! Please keep an eye out for information on your social tariffs

Person holding a marbled mug, wearing a knitted sweater and dark overalls, sitting on a brown sofa with furry and polka dot pillows.

As the temperature continues to drop it's important to keep a warm home whilst keeping your energy bills down.


Robert Heath have provided a list of things you can do to help warm your home.








As our heating contractor, Robert Heath offer advice and support from a dedicated team of call handlers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.


Keeping your home warm in the winter


Draw your curtains at dusk and shut your doors.


A dimly lit building at night featuring a window with closed yellow curtains.

Opening your curtains in the day will allow the sun to heat up the room. Once the sun starts to set, you can close your curtains to keep the heat from escaping through your windows making your home warmer for longer.


Tuck your curtains behind your radiators to allow the heat into the room.


Leave a gap of at least 6 inches between furniture and the radiators.


 

Ensure your doors and windows are draft free.


Person sealing a window frame with weatherstripping. Caulk gun on white sill.

Please give us a call if your windows feel very draughty. They maybe due a service or need adjusting.


Having a draft coming through your doors and windows can make your room a bit colder. If you can buy a draft excluder to keep the heat in your room it will definitely help, especially if you are heating only one room in your house!


 
Electric heater with glowing orange coils, black frame, and metal grille, set against a plain white background.

Turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.


Portable heaters can help heat up one room in your house, we recommend the room that you are all congregating in. As useful as these are, they can also cause problems if they are faulty or damaged. To reduce the risk of a fire, turn them off when you leave the room or you are going to bed.



 
Hand adjusts wall thermostat showing 21.5°C Light enters through a window, creating a warm setting.

Leave your central heating on for short periods of time throughout the day.


It is important to keep your home warm. Living in a cold home can affect your mental and physical health. Therefore the rooms you spend most of your time should be between 18c and 21c .






Energy saving tips and tricks


A metal light switch on a white wall, slightly angled. The background is softly blurred, creating a minimalistic and calm mood.

Switch off lights when not needed.


This one is self explanatory but if there is nobody in the room, switching off the lights will help you save energy.






 
LED light bulb next to a green box labeled "LEDLAMP" with "12W 6000K" and energy ratings. Bright, efficient, eco-friendly design.

Use energy efficient lightbulbs.


LED lightbulbs in your home can help you save energy and money. Not only do they use less energy when they are lighting a room, they also last a lot longer. When your lightbulbs break in your house, consider buying LED blubs going forward!



 
UK plug near white wall socket with an "ON" switch. A red arrow points towards the socket, indicating disconnection.

Switch off appliances or unplug them.


A lot of appliances still use energy when they are on standby, so when you have finished watching TV or washing your clothes, consider turning off the appliance from the plug on the wall or unplug them.





 
Washing machine with digital timer, full laundry basket in foreground. Blue "30" icon indicates wash cycle temperature.

Use your washing machine at a lower

temperature like 30°C.


"Washing clothes at 30 degrees rather than higher temperatures will save around 40% of the energy used each year. Modern washing powders and detergents work just as effectively at lower temperatures. Wait until you have a full load before putting on a wash." - Energy Saving Trust


 
Chrome showerhead with water flowing from it. Blue water droplets against a white background, conveying cleanliness and freshness.

Save water by showering rather than a bath.


It's pretty well known that showers use less water and energy than baths. If you have a 5 minute shower you can save up to £25 a year on your energy bills according to the Energy Saving Trust




 
Hand holding a white electric kettle, water level is low for about 1  cup.

Only fill your kettle with the amount of water you need.


Not only does this save you money but it also saves you time. It will take less time to warm up the water for a cup of tea.







By following some of these tips, we hope you're able to keep your home a bit warmer during the winter periods whilst keeping your energy bills low.


If you you need to contact us, please call us or email in:


Call: 02920703758


If you have an issue with your heating you can contact Robert Heath directly:


Call: 0333 0141000

Whatsapp: 07700 160200

  • 3 min read

The weather was bad but the atmosphere was electric at USW Sports Park for the FCHA tenants sports day!


Over 60 people and their support staff joined us for a day filled with activities and sports that they could try in the hopes that it inspires some to continue with a sports based activity as a hobby.



Boccia


Is a Paralympic sport that involves throwing, kicking or rolling balls towards a target ball called the jack. It's played indoors and at the sports day, we were joined by Tom who is the Boccia Coordinator for Disability Sport Wales who gave tenants instructions on how to play the sport. Find out more about Boccia here



Cricket / Table Cricket


Cricket was set up to get tenants to practice swinging the bats and hitting the balls! This included points for those who hit the green wickets.


Table cricket was also set up in the gym. This involves up to 7 people around a table! one rolling the ball, one batting and then the rest move these white and red sliding pads on the edges of the table to try and stop the ball from hitting the ball. If you manage to block the ball by making it hit the red area of your slider they're out!





Bowls


What looks relatively easy turned out to be the biggest competition of the day! The guys at Bowls Cymru set up a challenge: roll the bowls into the holes, highest score wins! Little did they know how competitive some tenants were as people queued up to get first place! The bowls, however, were not spherical, which made the task that much more challenging.




Tennis


Not your usual tennis, this included more sensory objects to hit with bats and larger bats and balls to give everybody an opportunity to get a great rally going!





The Dance Groups


Two different dance groups joined us on the day, one in the morning (U DO IT! Dance Foundation) and one in the afternoon (Rubicon Dance) each with their different styles of getting tenants involved, and did they get involved! Every tenant spent some time dancing to their favourite songs. You can see how much fun they had in the photos. Can you spot the FCHA staff member?





Golf


Tenants and Staff enjoyed a little practice at some golf thanks to Golff Cymru! A tee was placed on the ground and tenants could hit the ball into a net! There was also a target to keep score. You can find out more about Golf here





Circus Tricks


TK Arts provided circus tricks such as juggling and plate spinning to get tenants to test their fine motor skills! There were at lot of people at this stall learning to juggle and having a whale of a time!





Rise Activities


Rise Life set up some activities in the afternoon to get tenants moving through adapted sports. The more popular one was with pool noodles and a balloon! Seated, tenants would hit the balloon into the opponents goals. Lots of laughs and yells in excitement could be heard coming from here! Find out more on the Rise Life website here!





Sensory Room and Yoga


Finally, upstairs, tenants could relax and settle down with some musical instruments, a sensory room and Yoga. If the activities downstairs in the hall were a little too strenuous, this was where you could go to relax.


Overall, the initial feedback from tenants has been incredibly positive! Hopefully we can continue to do sports days like this in the future. Who knows? Maybe next time the weather will be a bit better and more could be done outside!





First Choice Housing Association Ltd
10 Village Way, Greenmeadow Springs
Cardiff
CF15 7NE
Tel: (029) 20703758

Registered with Charitable Status under the Co-Operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 Number 26118R Registered with Senedd Cymru | Welsh Parliament under number J094 © First Choice Housing Association 2020 Designed in-house by our ICT team

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