Policy documents and consultations that CEE is considering making a response to are included below (listed in date order of responses required). Draft responses will be added to this page for member comments along with our final submissions. If you would like to input to any of our responses, please email us.


Enabling a High Renewable, Net Zero Electricity System: Call for Evidence

The government is calling for evidence on how our policies can achieve the following three objectives:

  • Maintaining growth in renewable deployment to meet net zero targets;
  • Ensuring overall system costs are minimised for electricity consumers; and
  • Supporting and adapting to innovative technologies and business models.

The information that they receive will help them develop the existing large scale renewable support mechanism, the Contracts for Difference scheme, and allow them to consider how their wider policy instruments and the markets they operate in can facilitate a move to a low cost, low carbon power system. CEE responded to the CfD consultation this year, demanding a Community Energy CfD open to <5 MW projects. This was refused but the minister said he would 'continue to keep all aspects of the CfD under review on an ongoing
basis.' It is important that we keep the pressure up, reasserting the need to support community energy. 'Community acceptability' is seen as a key challenge for the transformation of the energy system. This would obviously be less of a problem if the transformation were more owned and controlled by the community. Please respond to this call for evidence if you can and send us your evidence.

Deadline extended to 8 March 2021

CEE intends to respond.


Exemptions from the requirement for an electricity licence: call for evidence

It is possible to be granted exemption from the requirement for a licence for the generation, distribution and supply of electricity. Since this was put in place the electricity system has changed with more distributed generation and renewables.

This call for evidence is to find out how well the exemption regime has coped with these changes and how exemptions are currently being used in practice. It will inform a future consultation on changes to the regime, as part of a wider review.

The call is open to all, but we would like to hear in particular from anyone with an interest in the exemptions regime, including:

  • those benefitting from an exemption from the requirement for an electricity licence
  • those wishing to benefit from an exemption but unable to do so due to the requirements of exemptions legislation and/or policy
  • licensed stakeholders, consumers and trade bodies

Deadline 1 March 2021

CEE is considering submitting a response but lacks evidence. If you have any experience please email d.law@communityenergyengland.org

National Energy Action call for evidence survey on Pre-payment Meters

Fuel poverty charities National Energy Action (NEA) and Energy Action Scotland (EAS) are undertaking research to investigate pre-payment meters (PPM) and the rollout of smart meters for pre-payment customers. We would like to hear your views through this call for evidence survey which will take approximately 30 minutes. 

As a reminder, NEA and EAS are collecting your views to examine the issues traditional PPM customers still face; potential benefits of smart PPM; understand the barriers preventing uptake of smart PPM; and the range of potential interventions to maximise the adoption of smart PPM in the remaining years of the rollout. Parallel to this call for evidence, the research will also collect PPM customers’ own views on smart metering, particularly in the context of the current pandemic, but also to capture other key benefits to ensure the research continues to be impactful irrespective of Covid-19. We will also be undertaking interviews with key stakeholders and we will ask you to indicate in your response whether you would be happy for us to contact you to follow up on the feedback you provide. We will be working with Smart Energy GB to use the findings to inform a report that will be released later in the year.
 
The survey will remain open until the 14th March

Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into Community Energy

"The Environmental Audit Committee is conducting an overarching inquiry looking at technological innovations which could contribute to tackling climate change. Each part of the inquiry will look at a specific technology or strategy currently in use or in development and consider its potential and how Government policy can facilitate the UK making the best and most cost-effective use of that technology.

This inquiry will be an opportunity to highlight UK-based examples of innovation and excellence, and the Committee is particularly keen to hear from those at the cutting edge of each sector.

The next session of this inquiry will look at the role of community energy projects in the UK energy sector. 

Since most community energy projects focus on renewable power and/or energy efficiency, they could play a vital role in decarbonising energy and heat production, reducing energy consumption, and contribute to distributed energy generation. This will help the UK reach its legally binding target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This session will consider the potential contribution community energy can make to the UK’s energy supply, identify barriers to its progress/adoption, and how the UK could make the most of the community energy resource."

We need to make clear to the committee that net zero is about more than just generation and energy efficiency. The Committee on Climate Change is clear that we will fail to meet net zero if we do not engage the people. Community energy is key to getting their consent and participation in inventing and adopting local solutions - where most energy usage and wastage happens. It also delivers huge social and community returns on investment which alone would justify the government investing in support for community energy to enable it to make an investment case to begin to grow exponentially again.

Deadline Friday 19 March

CEE will be making a submission but it is really important that members submit inspiring stories and data about what you're doing and how much more you could deliver if the government provided some policy and financial support for the sector.

Consultation to review the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme: open consultation

Ofgem is seeking views from energy industry stakeholders on the current process in place for the Redress Scheme, to ensure that redress payments deliver the maximum benefit for Great Britain’s energy consumers.

They welcome responses from energy companies, consumer groups, third sector organisations, charities with experience of the Redress Scheme, and any other interested parties for their input on the following areas of consideration:

  • The types of projects that should be funded
  • Widening the eligibility scope to other organisations
  • The experience of charities that have applied to the Redress Scheme
  • Any other feedback that could help adapt the current process

CEE is considering responding to this consultation because the Energy Redress is currently only open to charities and we want it to be extended to include other community structures such as community benefit societies and co-operatives.

Deadline:8 April 2021

The consumer experience at public chargepoints: open consultation

The government is launching a new consultation on electric vehicle chargingm focusing on improving the consumer experience through four key areas:

  • Making it easy to pay
  • Opening up chargepoint data
  • Using a single payment metric
  • Ensuring a reliable charging network.

In addition, government is seeking evidence on 3 emerging policy areas; accessibility for disabled consumers, weatherproofing and lighting, and signage. 

Deadline:10 April 2021

Regional Consultations

Please look out for your DNO's consultation on their 'business plan' and feed in. These will form the basis of their investment in the distribution system from 2023-2028. If we want them to be investing to enable community energy (by, for instance, reinforcing the tail end of the system to enable more distributed generation) we must ask for it. It will also 

CEE has input into Electricity North West's consultation now closed. You can see ENW's strategy documents here.