MP leads fights for local energy

Measures to improve competition, create skilled jobs and reduce customers’ utility bills while helping to accelerate the construction of new clean energy infrastructure have been discussed by MPS.

Bath MP Wera Hobhouse led a cross-party debate on community energy as MPS called on the government to enact a ‘Right to Local Supply,’ so households and businesses can become customers of local renewable energy companies.

Customers can currently only purchase electricity from nationally licensed utilities.

Power for People, organisers of the campaign for the Local Electricity Bill, say this means money that people pay their energy bills with is not helping to strengthen local economies and build local clean energy infrastructure.

A cross-party group of 258 MPS backs the initiative while 70 local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales also support it together with 75 national organisations, including Community Energy England, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the RSPB.

|Ms Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat climate spokesperson, said at the debate: “Our outdated energy market rules mean that community energy groups must sell their power to large utilities, which sell it on to customers.

“That makes it impossible for community energy to scale up. The solution is a right to local supply that enables community energy schemes to sell their power directly to local customers.

“That would make it viable to expand existing schemes and to construct many new ones. The Local Electricity Bill would do that.

“Think of it as a surge in clean energy and a surge in public buy-in for climate solutions.”

Power for People director Steve Shaw said: “The Local Electricity Bill, if made law, would unlock the huge potential for communityowned clean energy infrastructure and for this to boost local skilled jobs and economic activity in communities everywhere. We call on the government to support it.”

The Minister for Innovation, Amanda Solloway, said of the Bill that the government “agreed with its the broad intentions” but not the detail.