Transition Belper Backs Local Electricity Bill

Transition Belper Backs Local Electricity Bill

Transition Belper has joined the Power for People campaign to support the Local Electricity Bill. If made law the Bill would allow community-scale renewable energy schemes to operate across the country, benefiting local communities in the process.

Currently in the UK it is not possible for local energy organisations to sell energy directly to local customers, because the huge costs of doing so are insurmountable. The Local Electricity Bill would make these costs proportionate to the size of the operation, thereby enabling local energy organisations to obtain licenses to sell their energy locally.

More details can be found on the website Power For People.

187 MPs have already backed the Bill, along with 214 local organisations, 250 parish councils and 40 local authorities. 46 national organisations also back the Bill including Transition Network, WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Action with Communities in Rural England, RSPB, UK Community Works, the National Association of Local Councils and Community Matters, and the National Federation of Community Organisations.

On the 10th of June, the Local Electricity Bill was successfully reintroduced into Parliament, following its presentation to the government under the ten-minute rule. The Bill’s lead sponsor, Peter Aldous MP, presented the Bill with a ten-minute speech in the House of Commons. The speech went unopposed and the Bill’s reintroduction was passed without the need for a vote.

Power For People encourages people to lobby their MPs to support the bill – if they are not doing so already. 

The Bill will now progress onto a second reading on the 10th of July. The Parliament website gives the timetable here: Local Electricity Bill Progress.

If you’d like to get involved locally with others interested in renewable energy, get in touch with Transition Belper’s Energy Group. Or join Belper’s Zero Carbon group by emailing: ChrisDRing@outlook.com

Leave a Reply