CEE's membership network includes active practitioners, stakeholders and supporters across the country. Join us to connect to other organisations in the sector, learn, create collaborations and overcome barriers. Our network is vibrant and determined and we'd love you to be part of it.
Plymouth Energy Community
Who is Community Energy England?
Community Energy England is the only organisation dedicated to supporting and facilitating community energy organisations and the broader sector in England. We have built an extensive network and connections within the sector and amongst relevant government and other stakeholders. As the voice of the sector, we are uniquely positioned to lobby government and advocate on behalf of community energy organisations and the sector as a whole.
All our work is intended to help clear obstacles, create connections between practitioners and stakeholders, and facilitate the work of community energy organisations, thereby benefiting the sector as a whole. We are also there to help when issues and policy changes affect community energy organisations' ability to create and implement projects, or the status or income of community energy organisations is threatened.
You can read more about who we are and what we do here.
Why are members important to Community Energy England?
To fulfil its potential, the community energy sector needs a representative and advocate. Our position as the recognised representative body for community energy in England is founded on our status as a membership body. Members give us credibility and increase the strength of our voice when seeking to influence government, regulators and other policy makers in line with the interests and needs of the sector, and when our staff and directors sit on strategic and working groups, such as the Local Energy Contact Group and the Open Networks Advisory Group.
Our members are central to our purpose, strategy and activities - listening to our members and the broader sector and its stakeholders is at the heart of our organisation. We actively seek input and insight from members so we can shape our strategic objectives and prioritise our efforts on the basis of what we see and hear within the sector, in combination with our analysis of the broader policy landscape, economic outlook and energy system context.
Membership fees are an important source of income for Community Energy England and help to make sure our activity for the benefit of the sector is sustainable for as long as the sector needs us. Our fees are varied to accommodate our wide variety of members; to assist new entrants to the sector, members in their first year of operation or those with a turnover under £20k are eligible for a years free membership.
Why should you become a member of Community Energy England?
Membership of Community Energy England shows commitment to the broader interests of the sector and demonstrates your support for the work we do to help create a policy landscape in which community energy can thrive. Your support directly adds to the strength of our voice to advocate on behalf of the sector, so becoming a member helps to enable the movement to grow and progress towards its huge potential.
By committing to pay membership fees, your organisation is making an important contribution to the sustainability of Community Energy England, helping ensure our income is diversified and we can make longer-term plans for our work on behalf of the sector's growth and success.
Becoming part of the collective voice working for the benefit of the sector also improves our ability to build effective cross-sector partnerships and opens up new avenues for you to connect with and learn from other practitioners and stakeholders in the community energy sector. You can feed directly into our strategy and priorities through various means and alert us to issues that affect your or other organisations within the sector and require our assistance to resolve.
In addition, membership brings:
- Access to our regular member newsletter
- Your organisation featured as a supporter on our website and member map
- Exclusive access to our monthly members calls with a wide range of informative speakers and knowledge sharing
- The opportunity to promote your news/projects/services, job vacancies, events and share offers through our newsletter (650+ recipients) and social media channels (4900+ followers on Twitter, 1,200+ on LinkedIn)
- Speaking opportunities at our events and priority access to sponsor our events and publications
- Voting rights at our AGM and the opportunity to stand as a director
- Exclusive access to our online member forums
- The opportunity to feed into our consultation responses and shape our advocacy agenda
- Only members are eligible to be nominated for annual Community Energy Awards
Who can be a member of Community Energy England?
Membership is open to any organisation which supports community energy, including unincorporated groups who may be at the early stages of developing projects. Most experienced participants in the English sector are members of Community Energy England.
We work to build understanding and successful links between community, commercial and public sector partners in order to create the conditions within which community energy can flourish. We work for the benefit of the community energy movement as a whole and therefore act as an inclusive organisation. Our data, resources and publications are open to any interested party as we believe in inclusion and the wide dissemination of the benefits of community energy.
Find out more about membership types and fees or apply for membership.
