What is community energy?
Community energy allows people and communities to take democratic control over their energy future, by understanding, generating, using, owning, and saving energy in their communities, as well as working together across regions and nationally.
Community energy is a nationwide movement that is putting people at the heart of delivering the clean power transition. It empowers every street, town, city, village and neighbourhood to have a say in the design and ownership of the renewable energy appearing in our urban and rural landscapes, as we work together to avert climate change and achieve fairer bills and energy security for our country and neighbours.
Community energy uses social enterprise, cooperative, and charitable business models, backed by community shares and crowdfunding from local people, retail, public sector, and social impact investors, to ensure that a fair proportion of our collective energy spend stays in local areas through the democratic ownership of renewable energy assets.
This rewards ordinary savers and provides communities with their own source of independent long term income to support community wealth building activities and other local causes, ultimately increasing public buy-in for our move towards net zero.
Community energy enterprises also work alongside local authorities, energy suppliers, electricity network operators, and supportive private sector partners to provide advice on making our homes more energy efficient, helping vulnerable people find the grants and support they need to escape fuel poverty, and showcasing the latest low carbon technologies like heat pumps and electric cars, helping to build and maintain public trust as we electrify and insulate our homes and businesses.
Definitions and impact of community energy
The REScoop model
REScoops are energy cooperatives – officially recognised in the EU’s Clean Energy Package as ‘citizen’ and ‘renewable’ energy communities – a business model where citizens jointly own and democratically control an enterprise that works on renewable energy or energy efficiency projects.