The new Labour government is hugely supportive of community energy which is embedded in its energy policy and 1/3 of the remit of the popular Great British Energy company plans. Labour has an outright majority. The Lib Dems and Greens have also pledged to support community energy. The 49 Labour Coop MPs campaigned on a platform that always mentioned Labour's pledge to double the size of the cooperative economy and support community energy.
But a significant proportion of the new MPs, including Labour MPs, will not know about community energy or that their party has committed hundreds of millions of support for it over the next 5 years. We need to enlist those MPs as community energy champions in parliament. We need lots of endorsements from and photographs of MPs waving on community energy rooftops.
There are around 300 MPs who represent seats with community energy projects in them across the UK. That is a huge potential power-base if all of them can recognise the power and potential of our sector to enable the energy transition and bring benefit to their communities.
Ed Miliband MP, and prospective parliamentary candidates Joe Powell (now MP) and Ryan Jude on North Kensington Community Energy rooftop at Westway Leisure Centre
Why harnessing our MPs is key
Already, community energy friendly MPs have helped us get questions asked and meet ministers. More half the MPs in the previous parliament supported the Local Electricity Bill. An 'All Party Parliamentary Group on Community Energy' was recently formed. We have built profile and recognition in Westminster. But there is rebuilding to be done after the General Election. The good news is that Labour is fully behind community energy.
We will be working closely with the new government and partners to make sure policy is developed and implemented in a way that will support community energy best. And to ensure the right support and policies are in place to enable community energy to grow exponentially again.
Make your MP a community energy champion
MPs can only really respond to people and projects in their constituencies. So we are asking community energy people and organisations (you!) to connect with and make an ally of your MP, whatever their political complexion and whether you like them or not. Invite them to visit your project and to invest in it, to share-issues and project launches, take and share good pictures (with the aim of getting them featured prominently on their website, Facebook page, into their newsletters), tag them in social media, update them on progress, get them wanting to boast about you in Parliament. Also ask them to do things for you - ask parliamentary questions, write to ministers. Then they will be much more willing to champion the sector or your project when we need them.
Please (and also mobilise supporters to) email, write to or tweet your MP, urging them to visit your project and champion community energy in the House; you can adapt our suggested letter to do this. Please explain why community energy is great - (benefits to your local community) - and, as a trusted intermediary, the key to engaging the wider community to actively participate in the urgent energy transition. Attach the CEE Parliamentary Briefing.
Your MP can be found at https://www.theyworkforyou.com/ (where you can also send them a message). Full contact details, and how MPs prefer to be addressed, is available at https://members.parliament.uk/members/Commons
Please write to local newspapers in the same vein.
Rachel Blake, Labour Coop Parliamentary Candidate (now MP) for the Cities of London and Westminster, with Cllr Jason Pritchard and Syed Ahmed, Chair of Community Energy London at Aldgate Solar Power
Sample email/letter to your MP.
If you are active over several constituencies you can write to all those MPs. Their campaign contacts and social media handles may still be available on whocanIvotefor.co.uk for a while until MP email addresses have been set up which you’ll be able to find at members.parliament.uk/members/commons. Please also connect with them on social media as well as by email.
Please adapt the draft below so that it feels comfortably your own words and includes local references. BE SURE TO MODIFY OR DELETE ALL THE SECTIONS IN SQUARE BRACKETS!!! The draft uses 'We' thoughout assuming you are writing on behalf of your organisation of multiple people. Please amend if this isn't right. If you don't have a site suitable for a visit, please ask for a meeting or arrange to attend one of your MPs regular surgeries. See our guide to site visits.
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Dear [The Find your MP page will tell you how they prefer to be addressed]
We write from [NAME OF YOUR CE ORGANISATION] active in your constituency. [ADD brief details of your work/benefits to local people]
We are deeply concerned that the tiny amount of funding made available to help community energy develop projects this financial year will block the sector’s growth at just the time when it most needs to expand. The extension of the Community Energy Fund announced in March set out just £5m of new funding, an amount that will certainly run out before the end of the financial year, leading to a catastrophic slump in confidence and activity.
[ADD DETAILS IF POSSIBLE ON WHAT THE CEF HAS ENABLED AND WHAT CONTINUED FUNDING WOULD ALLOW YOU TO DO]
The government intends to implement its Local Power Plan, which the Energy Secretary says will precipitate the “biggest expansion in community energy in British history.” But if the sector has stalled first, this ambition, alongside 8GW of local and community owned power by 2030, 1 million new owners, 20,000 projects and thousands of new jobs, is very unlikely to be deliverable.
DESNZ can find funding to invest in its community energy programme. Alongside the extension of the CEF, the government announced £180m of capital funding for solar on schools and hospitals. The fact that this did not include any provisions for collaboration with community energy was short-sighted and represents a missed opportunity. Collaborations between communities and the public sector would have delivered more megawatts and much more social and community benefit. The government recognises the opportunities and benefits offered by community energy. It must invest in enabling the sector to grow - which will yield much more value for money than lumps of capital funding.
So:
- Please write to Ed Miliband, DESNZ Secretary of State and Minister Shanks, asking that he provide additional funding for the Great British Energy Community Fund urgently, to avoid a slump in activity and confidence.
- We would like to invite you to visit our project at [ADD DETAILS including best times for you - Fridays and weekends or during an upcoming recess, are best for MPs] to show you what we do and the benefit that is delivered to constituents and the climate.
We look forward to working closely with you and hope you will champion community energy and our project in parliament.
Yours sincerely
[YOUR ADDRESS WITH A POSTCODE IN THE CONSTITUENCY (can be of your project if you don’t live in the constituency)
Please copy in d.law@communityenergyengland.org so we can track who's been contacted,
Thank you!
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Tweet
Please do tweet from your organisation’s account if possible. You can find MP Twitter handles here. Please ADD A PICTURE (essential - use one of your project ideally and 'tag' people in it to increase reach), personalise with relevant # and @.
Please don't delete the dot at the beginning. Replace the dots at the end with text, links, @ and #
.@[MPtwitterhandle...] Please ask @Ed_Miliband to increase support for #CommunityEnergy now, and enable local energy markets.
Please visit our project soon so we can show you the huge benefit we bring your constituents and the potential for more.
@Comm1nrg @Power4PeopleUK