Bath MP Wera Hobhouse shared her support for community-owned and run energy projects during a parliament debate on Thursday 9th February.
The MP spoke during a debate on Chris Skidmore MP’s Net Zero review.
Ms Hobhouse is backing a proposed new law, the Local Electricity Bill, aiming to enable communities to power their homes and businesses with locally generated renewable energy, helping to retain the proceeds from energy bills in the local economy.
There are high hopes for community energy’s direct benefits, including new skilled jobs, reduced energy bills and more money for local projects.
The campaign group Power for People thanked the MP for supporting the proposed new law.
Community energy, renewable energy generated by community-owned and run projects, accounts for less than 0.5% of total UK electricity generation capacity.
According to the Parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, the sector could grow 12-20 times by 2030 with the right Government support, powering 2.2 million homes and saving 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year.
The recent Net Zero review, authored by Chris Skidmore MP and commissioned by the Government, affirmed “the community energy sector has been relatively neglected by government” with its leading recommendation to address this being that the “Government should commit to the Local Electricity Bill that would enable community energy projects to provide energy directly to local households and businesses”.
Ms Hobhouse raised the potential of Community Energy in the Net Zero review debate and was pleased to see it supported in Mr Skidmore’s review.
The MP for Bath, who is also the Liberal Democrat Climate and Energy spokesperson, is one of a cross-party group of 316 MPs supporting the Local Electricity Bill, along with over 100 national organisations including the National Trust, the RSPB, CPRE, WWF, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
Supportive MPs, including Mrs Hobhouse, as well as Lords and Baronesses in the House of Lords, are encouraging the Government to include the sections of the Local Electricity Bill in the Government’s Energy Bill, which is the first major piece of energy legislation in almost 10 years and is expected to pass into law before the summer.
Wera commented: “I am pleased to support the Local Electricity Bill, which will empower and enable new community energy companies to sell energy they generate directly to local people, helping to strengthen our local economies.
“I call on the Government to support it too by including its measures in the Energy Bill that is currently progressing through Parliament.”
Power for People’s Director, Steve Shaw, said: “We thank Wera Hobhouse for supporting community energy and the Local Electricity Bill in Parliament.
“If made law, it would unleash the huge potential for new community-owned clean energy that would be cheaper, make our energy system more robust and bring knock-on local economic benefits to our towns, villages and cities.”