CEE news
Community Energy England welcomes Prime Minister Andy Burnham
Community Energy EnglandCommunity Energy England (CEE) congratulates Andy Burnham on becoming Prime Minister and welcomes the vision set out in his first speech.
The Prime Minister’s commitment to building a new political and economic model that gives people and places more power, invests in people’s success, and enables communities to shape their own futures closely reflects the values of the community energy movement.
Community energy puts power into the hands of local people through democratic, cooperative ownership of clean energy. It enables communities to tackle the cost of living, strengthen energy security, create local jobs and skills, and build a decarbonised, distributed and more resilient energy system.
CEE believes that, with the right enabling policies and modest early investment, including seed funding, community energy can deliver significant social, economic and environmental benefits while reducing costs to the public purse over the medium and long term. We will work to ensure that community energy is a cornerstone of the government’s Ten Year Plan.
CEE also welcomes the appointment of Miatta Fahnbulleh as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. As Minister for Energy Consumers, she engaged directly with the community energy sector, visiting a community energy project in south London with Community Energy England members Sustainable Energy 24 (SE24) and South East London Community Energy (Selce), and later meeting a fuel poverty client in their home. Those visits demonstrated the practical impact that community energy can have in improving lives, reducing energy bills and strengthening local resilience. Both she and Andy Burnham are Co-operative Party MPs and understand the importance and power of putting people at the heart of change.
Andy Burnham’s cost of living measure to remove VAT on electricty bills is welcome and will make a difference but will be all but wiped out by price cap increases over the rest of the year. Targetting electricity bills is key to reducing the ‘Spark Gap’ difference between the price of gas and electricity which is slowing down electrification of heat and transport. But it needs to be done in a permanent, long-term way that will influence purchasing decisions not just for six months.
We are delighted that Michael Shanks remains Minster of State for Energy as DESNZ. He is a brilliant advocate for community energy and that “Ownership matters” as the Local Power Plan puts it. He is also a Cooperative Party MP.
About a quarter of Andy Burnham’s cabinet are now Cooperative Party MPs many returning to posts they held before. Jonathan Reynolds returns as Secretary of State (SoS) at the Department of Business and Trade; James Murray returns to the Treasury as Exchequer Secretary; Jim McMahon and Alex Norris return to the Ministry of Communities and Local Government. Steve Reed returns as SoS at DEFRA. Simon Lightwood is Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Transport. And Lucy Powell is SoS at the Department for Education. We will be writing to her about current disruption to community energy delivery on schools.
CEE looks forward to working with the new Government to ensure community energy is recognised as a key part of delivering the Prime Minister’s ambition to empower people and places, rebuild local economies, and create a more affordable, secure and sustainable energy future.