Exciting news! – The Government’s Energy Bill has been revived and is now back in the House of Lords.
This means that the amendments that we had tabled to it, intended to unlock community energy across the UK, are back as well.
The amendments proposed would provide small-scale renewable energy generators with a guaranteed price for their electricity and allow them to sell that electricity locally. You can read more about them on our blog by clicking here.
Power for People have devised two amendments to the Government’s Energy Bill for consideration at Committee Stage (which commenced on 5th September). They take forward the ideas of the Local Electricity Bill, backed by 311 MPs of all major parties.
The amendments were tabled by Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green) alongside Baroness Boycott (Crossbench), Lord Teverson (Liberal Democrat) and Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour). Combined we believe they would go a long way in realising community energy’s huge potential.
Local engagement in this campaign has really been such a game changer. It is so important to have supporters from the grassroots pushing this Bill to the top of the political tray.
That was Wera Hobhouse MP at our first community energy event in Parliament last week.
Ms Hobhouse sat on a panel with Hilary Benn MP, David Johnston MP, Will Handford (The National Trust’s Renewable Energy Programme Director), Tom Fyans (CPRE’s Interim CEO) and our Director Steve Shaw.
With all seats taken, people were packed in, crowded out the door and down the corridor. Some MPs and Peers who turned up were unable to physically enter the room – some stood in the corridor listening for over an hour, whilst others came back at the end to speak with us, offering to do more to help. This was a real show of the campaign’s strength in the halls of Parliament.
Halfway through the evening during the Q&A, Labour’s Energy Minister Dr Alan Whitehead announced that the Labour Front Bench are fully behind our improved version of the Local Electricity Bill, which we plan to have introduced into Parliament imminently (more info on that soon).
Thank you for backing this campaign and believing in it. As Wera Hobhouse said, you are the strength of this campaign. We have 312 MPs on board now but we need more support and activity to get the Government onside and see this over the line.
Save the date: we host a monthly session to answer your questions and discuss any updates to the campaign. It would be great to see you there on Monday 21st November at 5:30pm
Saturday October 1 2022 falls in the Great Big Green Week and the Eco Group at St George’s Church are organising another Litter Pick at Long Lane Woods.
Volunteers are advised to wear long trousers, sturdy shoes and bring gloves.
All are welcome to join us though we ask that any under 16s are accompanied by their own adult.
Half of all UK households could face fuel poverty this winter due to the rapidly rising costs of energy bills.
The community energy sector has such potential to make a big contribution to relieve this mounting pressure. But regulatory barriers stand in the way. Now more than ever, we need to enable community energy groups to sell their clean power to local households so that money we pay for our energy is redirected into local communities.
Last week we organised the introduction of a legislative amendment that would do this to the Government’s Energy Bill, currently proceeding through Parliament. The amendment is soon to be debated and voted on in the House of Lords.
Whether or not we win this vote, we will need to encourage MPs and the Government to back what we are calling for when the Energy Bill comes to the House of Commons. Are you wondering how you can help?
On Thursday 15th September, we will be hosting our first ‘drop in’ Q&A session with our team of expert campaigners.
Drop in anytime between 5:30pm and 6:30pm to have your questions about the campaign answered.
Whether you want an update on campaign progress, or you are not sure what to ask of your MP – no question is too small.
To join us, click this link on 15th September at 5.30pm (no registration required).
These informal Q&As will take place every other month.
Remember: we are still here to answer your questions in-between Q&As, just email us at info@powerforpeople.org.uk.
We are not meeting our climate change targets – the UK is way off track to meet the fourth and fifth carbon emissions budgets of the Climate Change Act. Community-scale renewable energy has huge potential to help solve this problem and benefit local economies, but it is currently blocked from doing so.
If you want to buy your electricity from local renewable sources, such as the local school or sports hall that have solar panels on their roofs, you cannot. We all buy our electricity from a utility company that sources it from anything connected to the National Grid, be it a field of solar panels in Wiltshire or a gas fired power station in Yorkshire.
Putting it the other way around – a community with local renewable generation, e.g. housing estates with solar panels or a local wind farm – cannot sell the energy they generate directly to local people, but must sell it to a utility who sells it on to customers. This is happening because becoming a supplier of energy to customers involves set-up and running costs of millions of pounds. These costs are due to things like having to grapple with the highly complex grid balancing codes and network agreements that are controlled by the largest six utilities.
The heart of the problem is disproportionate costs. It would be like you wanting to set up a business baking cupcakes in your kitchen and delivering them to people in your local area, but instead of just paying the road tax for your delivery van you had to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to use the roads, no matter how few cupcakes you delivered. You could never start your business – this is the reality for community-scale renewable energy in the UK.
The Solution
The costs and complexity of being able to sell locally generated energy to local people need to be made proportionate to the size of the local energy co-operative’s or business’s operation. We have drafted the Local Electricity Bill which lays out a mechanism that will do this. If made law, it would give electricity generators the right to become local suppliers – i.e. sell their energy directly to local people – and make it financially viable to do so.
The Benefits
If the Local Electricity Bill became law, it would give a huge boost to community renewable energy and local economies.
Communities would benefit from selling local renewable energy -Significant additional value would remain within local economies, meaning more investment in things like local services and more efficient homes.
Communities could raise funds to build more renewable energy – Communities would have a viable business model to build new renewable energy schemes, meaning they could help ensure the UK meets its climate change targets.
Communities would see knock-on local economic benefits – There would be greater acceptance of the transition to 100% renewable energy, local economies would be more resilient, local skilled jobs would be created and our energy supply would be more secure due to less imports of fossil fuels.
The Campaign
To see the Local Electricity Bill made law, we need the support of around 400 MPs (which is well over half the House of Commons). So far, the Bill has gained the support of a cross-party group of 309 MPs.
We are mobilising people at constituency level to call on their MP to back the Bill. Every additional supportive MP increases the chance it will become law. We need your help with this so please sign up.
