East Durham Homes has reached a new milestone in its improvement project, with the firm recently completing work on its 3,000th household.

In partnership with FHM, Kier and Wates, the company finished decent homes work on 1,256 properties in 2011/2012, meaning that its percentage of such residencies has reached 39 per cent.

This compares favourably to 2009, when there was only ten per cent decency.

Mr and Mrs McGann from Seaton Crescent commended the company for its work, with Mrs McGann saying: "The work that's been done is absolutely fabulous and I’m very pleased with the end result."

FHM contracts manager Barry Meters also commented on the work, noting that it is wonderful to see the difference that the improvements make to people's lives.

Last month, Energyhelpline introduced the Huge Switch purchasing scheme, which hopes to enable consumers to lower their energy bills.

The initiative allows people to see the best available market prices when they sign up, so households can instantly swap to cheaper packages.