We regularly respond to consultations, write briefings and send letters to decision makers in order to promote a positive policy environment that will enable community energy to thrive and grow. You can read these policy documents on this page.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the Planning for the Future consultation [October 2020]
The government is planning a wholesale shake-up of the planning system prioritising beauty, diluting democracy and introducing dubious zoning and design codes.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the government's Nationally Determined Contributions for COP26 [December 2020]
Climate ambition is futile if people and communities don’t buy into and participate in the action. CEE’s statement on COP26.
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Policy Response
CEE Comprehensive Spending Review Representation [January 2021]
CEE’s recommendations for funding in the Spending Review and Budget on 27 October 2021.
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Policy Response
CEE's response to the Chancellor's Spending Review [January 2021]
In announcing the Spending Review, the Chancellor placed great emphasis on “Encouraging the individual and community brilliance on which a thriving society depends”. He omitted to extend to any enabling support for brilliant community energy groups which stand ready to mobilise thousands of passionate, knowledgeable local people and millions in investment in local solutions for the vital energy transition to zero-carbon.
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Policy Response
Energy Redress Scheme consultation [February 2021]
On 11 February we asked Ofgem to extend the elibility to receive grants from this scheme from only charities to include community energy.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Enabling a high-renewable, low-cost electricity system call for evidence [March 2021]
We made the case for a Community CfD and additional forms of support for the community energy sector.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the Environmental Audit Committee call for evidence on Community Energy [March 2021]
On 19 March 2021, CEE, CEW and CES jointly submitted this response alongside many other CE groups.
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Policy Response
CEE's response to Ofgem's Access and Forward-looking Charges Significant Code Review [August 2021]
CEE responded to Ofgem’s Consultation on Minded to Positions, supporting the overall objectives of this SCR as a step to ensuring that network charging and management can support the necessary transition towards net-zero.
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Policy Response
Heat Network Zoning consultation response [November 2021]
The proposals being put forward in this consultation will ensure that community energy groups cannot participate in the heat network procurement process
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Policy Response
CEE response to Ofgem's Call for Evidence on Electricity Distribution Business Plans for RIIO-2 [February 2022]
CEE responded to Ofgem’s Call for Evidence on Electricity Distribution Business Plans for RIIO-2, comparing each of the DNO business plans and urging all DNOs to be required to produce a community energy strategy.
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Policy Response
Letter to the Energy Secretary about funding for community energy [February 2022]
This letter outlines the critical funding ‘gap’ for feasibility and development of projects that will result from the ending of the Rural Community Energy Fund in March 2022 – and urges the Energy Secretary to extend and expand the scheme.
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Policy Response
CEE, CES and CEW letter to the Chancellor urging exemption for CE from 'excess profits levy' [June 2022]
The Treasury was looking into taxing excess profits from the wider energy industry including renewable energy generation. We wrote explaining why community energy should be excluded from this levy.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Ofgem's local energy institutions and governance call for input [June 2022]
Ofgem were seeking evidence around the development of sub-national energy planning, developing flexibility markets and real-time local energy system operation.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Ofgem's RIIO-ED2 Business Plan Draft Determinations consultation [August 2022]
In Ofgem’s first response to DNOs’ business plans for the ED2 period 2023-28, they rejected many DNOs’ proposals to support community energy and reduced their ambition and ability to invest for Net Zero.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the government's Net Zero Review [October 2022]
On 8 September 2022 Liz Truss commissioned Chris Skidmore MP to conduct a Review of its “approach to net zero to ensure it is pursuing the most economically efficient path to meeting its climate change commitments.” and that it is “delivering net zero in a way that is pro-business and pro-growth.”
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Policy Response
Letter to Energy Secretary about Energy Prices Bill [October 2022]
CEE wrote to Jacob Rees-Mogg to urge that community energy be exempted from the Cost-Plus Revenue Limit within the Energy Prices Bill.
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Policy Response
CEE response to BEIS' Review of Electricity Market Arrangements' (REMA) [October 2022]
BEIS is looking at how to reform the electricity wholesale markets to achieve net zero in the power system by 2035 and increase localisation.
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Policy Response
Joint letter with Possible and NGOs to Secs of State on onshore renewables [November 2022]
In the face of threatened de facto ban on solar farms and the reversal of the planned opening up of onshore wind by the previous government we joined with Possible to write to relevant Secretaries of State.
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Policy Response
Joint letter to the PM with Coop Group, Tesco, Morrisons and M&S [December 2022]
We joined this Coop Group initiative requesting a more supportive environment for investment into renewables and community energy. The PM has responded offering a meeting with Grant Shapps, the SoS at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
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Policy Response
Joint letter to the Chancellor from energy trade associations [January 2023]
“The Spring Statement is a key moment for the Government to signal its intention to invest in and remove barriers to investment across the sector.” We are working with the trade associations to get a meeting with the Chancellor. We do not endorse all of the asks in the letter.
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Policy Response
CEE Spring Budget Representation [January 2023]
We made policy suggestions for the Budget, which included extending Social Investment Tax Relief beyond 2023, extending eligibility to community energy, funding a National Community Energy Fund and extending business rate reliefs and incentives to community energy.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the BEIS consultation on the future of the CfD scheme [February 2023]
We made policy proposals on a Community Energy CfD pot, a requirement for an offer of community ownership and community benefit for projects to be eligible for CfDs.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the Planning reform consultation [September 2024]
The government consulted on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system. We urged a net zero mandate for planning, community energy be allowed in the green belt, more rewewables in conservation/heritage areas, protected landscapes and more.
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Policy Response
CEE Autumn Budget representation to the Treasury [September 2024]
A representation of our asks for government spending in the Budget on 30 October. We made proposals to ensure the success of the Local Power Plan.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the GB Energy Bill call for evidence [October 2024]
The Great British Energy Bill had no mention of community energy. We proposed an amendment to the Objectives of GB Energy in the bill and supported an amendment on ethical sourcing.
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Policy Response
Response to NESO Financial Instrument call for input [November 2024]
The National Energy System Operator proposes a security fee’ of £20k per MW for transmission connections to deter speculative or zombie applications. This would add around 20% to at-risk development costs for large scale projects and would render many large projects unfundable, thus damaging prospects for growing the sector to meet its 8GW government targets.
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Policy Response
Briefing: Threat to community energy growth from the Law Commission proposals [November 2024]
This Briefing outlines the potential threat to sector growth from the Law Commission consultation. NB this is not CEE’s consultation response. A leading community energy co-op director has said, “These reforms pose a fundamental threat to community energy. Some of the sector’s most vibrant organisations will be extinguished.”
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Policy Response
Joint statement with The Climate Coalition asking for UK climate leadership at COP29 [November 2024]
We signed this joint statement with a quotation from our Chair of Directors, Helen Seagrave, urging strong climate leadership at COP and enabling community leadership at home.
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Policy Response
CEE's Response to Invest 2035: The UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy Consultation [November 2024]
The industrial strategy is the UK government’s proposed 10-year plan for the economy. CEE responded with proposals to unlock the potential of community energy ahead of the publication of the final industrial strategy in spring 2025, alongside the multi-year spending review.
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Policy Response
Joint letter on community energy priority access to grid connection [November 2024]
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has published its recommended Pathway to Clean Power 2030. We asked that the govenment designate community energy and shared ownership schemes as ‘needed for 2030’ for the government’s Local Power Plan to succeed, which would help them get priority access to the grid.
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Policy Response
CEE's Response to the Law Commission’s Review of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act [December 2024]
The Law Commission’s proposals would endanger the continued existence of many community energy cooperatives and CBSs as many of the activities for which they were set up are prevented by one or the other set of rules. You can read CEE’s consultation response to their proposals here.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Heat networks regulation: authorisation and regulatory oversight consultation [January 2025]
With input and support from the Low Carbon Heat working group, CEE responded to DESNZ and Ofgem’s consultation on Heat networks regulation: authorisation and regulatory oversight.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Heat networks regulation: Implementing consumer protections consultation [January 2025]
With input and support from the Low Carbon Heat working group, CEE responded to DESNZ and Ofgem’s consultation on Heat networks regulation: Implementing consumer protections.
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Policy Response
Policy Proposals from CEE response to ESNZ call for evidence [January 2025]
In our response to the ESNZ committee’s call for evidence on unlocking community energy, we made a series of policy proposals which you can read here.
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Policy Response
CEE response to ESNZ Committee call for evidence: Unlocking community energy at scale [January 2025]
The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee put out a call for evidence on unlocking community energy at scale. In the past, committee reports based on these kinds of consultations have been very helpful to the community energy sector in arguing for policy changes.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Ofgem's Forward Work Programme 2025/26 [February 2025]
Ofgem set out some key policy areas they plan to progress over the coming year and invited responses. This is CEE’s input covering reforms to the connections queue and incentives for the large-scale deployment of demand-side response.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the ESNZ Committee hearing on Industrial Strategy for Clean Power [February 2025]
Information CEE’s Ethical Sourcing Working Group was used in this submission mainly focussing on ethical sourcing issues in the renewable energy, particularly solar, supply chains.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Joint Committee inquiry into Forced Labour in UK Supply Chains [February 2025]
Information gathered by CEE’s Ethical Sourcing Working Group was used for this submission.
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Policy Response
CEE representation to HMT Spending Review [February 2025]
CEE submitted a representation to the Treasury ahead of the 2025 spending review, which included policy proposals for the Local Power Plan.
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Policy Response
Short Briefing by Energy Local on P441 modification to enable local energy markets [March 2025]
Energy Local has prepared this briefing on the “Elexon P441 modification”, a regulatory change that could put local energy trading on a more secure footing enabling organisations to sell cheaper local power and balance supply and demand locally to reduce the pressure on the grid.
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Policy Response
Community shared ownership: why guidance and targets are not enough [June 2025]
This briefing, written by Community Energy Scotland, Community Energy England and Community Energy Wales, makes the case for introducing a mandatory shared ownership model for commercially owned renewable energy assets.
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Policy Response
Great British Energy Community Fund Briefing [July 2025]
The CEF (now GBE CF) kickstarted community energy growth and, if properly supported, that growth can become exponential. The community energy sector has projects and business models that are ready to upscale at pace if the right conditions are put in place.
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Policy Response
CEE Budget Representation [October 2025]
CEE submitted a representation to the Treasury ahead of the Autumn Budget. We made the case for prioritising capital and development funding for community-led initiatives instead of directly funding local energy projects without community involvement.
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Policy Response
Consumer-led Flexibility Consultation Response [September 2025]
CEE argued that community energy should be supported to be at the heart of engaging citizens to participate in flexibility
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Policy Response
Policy Recommendations on energy efficiency, retrofit and heat for Minister Fahnbulleh [July 2025]
At a site visit in July 2025 orgnised by CEE, with SE24 and SELCE we shared and discussed this policy briefing. This will be the catalogue for ongoing policy discussions.
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Policy Response
Community Benefit and Shared Ownership Consultation response [July 2025]
CEE collaborated with Community Energy Scotland and Community Energy Wales. We believe shared ownership is the more important policy, necessary for community energy to reach the 8GW by 2030 target and essential for a successful energy transformation.
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Policy Response
Letter to Ed Miliband [July 2024]
CEE’s letter to the new Secretary of State for Energy following Labour’s election victory.
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Policy Response
Press Release - Election result [July 2024]
“New government backs local people to tackle climate change with up to £1bn a year.” Yesterday, the people elected a government with real plans to turbocharge community energy
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Policy Response
Community Energy England’s response to the Call for Evidence on Barriers to Community Energy Projects [June 2024]
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) issued a call for evidence on the barriers to setting up, developing and scaling faced by community energy organisations.
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Policy Response
Labour manifesto plans would transform community energy nationwide [June 2024]
CEE press release following the launch of the 2024 Labour General Election Manifesto
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Policy Response
Briefing note from the Department for Education on putting solar on schools [May 2024]
Following complaint from several members about new barriers to installing solar on schools CEE lobbied the DfE who have refreshed their informal advice on steps required to install solar on schools. Official guidance is linked in the briefing note.
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Policy Response
Second REMA consultation response [May 2024]
We responded asking REMA to place greater emphasis on the potential of policy interventions at distribution grid level, which are a crucial component of the net zero transition. Local generation, flexibility and demand side responses can deliver real benefits if they are empowered by policy.
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Policy Response
Joint letter to government with Possible about opening up onshore wind [April 2024]
Possible has campaigned for opening up of onshore wind. We worked with them to survey members about failure of recent changes to open up planning.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the Contracts for Difference AR7 consultation [March 2024]
We repeated our arguments, made three times since 2020, for a Community CfD to create a fair playing field with big renewable developers and investor certainty to enable us to raise finance to grow the sector.
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Policy Response
CEE representation to the Treasury for the Spring Budget [January 2024]
CEE is asking for an extension and expansion to the Community Energy Fund, investment in retrofit, housing upgrades and clean heat and a greater focus on people and communities led initiatives.
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Policy Response
CEE representation to the Treasury for the Autumn Statement [October 2023]
CEE is asking for Tax Relief and other incentives to local energy action and increased funding for energy efficiency and retrofit.
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Policy Response
CEE letter welcoming new Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho to the role [August 2023]
We wrote to the new Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho welcoming her to the role and making the case for more action to support the community energy sector.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Strategy and Policy Statement for Energy Policy in Great Britain consultation [July 2023]
We encouraged the government to widen the remit of Ofgem and the FSO to include more explicit commitments to achieving net zero and positively engagements with the community energy sector.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Developing Local Partnerships for Onshore Wind consultation [July 2023]
We strongly express our disappointment that the government did not propose to enable onshore wind and urge mandatory community benefit including shared ownership.
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Policy Response
CEE response to the Community benefits for electricity transmission network infrastructure consultation [June 2023]
We responded encouraging community benefit to be invested in community energy projects rather than payments to individuals. We encouraged early and best practice engagement.
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Policy Response
CEE response to Ofgem's call for input on the Future of Distributed Flexibility [May 2023]
Ofgem are exploring how to proactively develop the market for distributed flexibility to include consumer energy resources. We explained some of the blocks CE organisation have experienced and urged the vital importance of CE in engaging people in active participation in the energy system including flexibility.
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Policy Response
CEE's response to Ofgem's Future of Local Energy Institutions and Governance consultation [May 2023]
Ofgem is exploring creating a Regional System Planner role to create and hold plans for the localisation of the energy system. We argue planning needs to start more locally, as in Wales, with Local Area Energy Plans, which are then combined to create regional then national system transformation plans.
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Policy Response
CEE's response to the Permitted Development rights consultation for solar power [April 2023]
The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is consulting on opening up permitted development rights for solar on flat roofs, land surrounding heritage sites and solar canopies on car parks. We have urged them to remove barriers as far and fast as possible to the installation of solar.
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Policy Response
Letter to the DESNZ Secretary of State urging him to 'turbo-charge' community energy [March 2023]
We wrote to Grant Shapps on 8 March urging he take the advice in Chris Skidmore’s Net Zero Review and turbo-charge community energy in his revised Net Zero Strategy due at the end of March.
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Policy Response
CEE and others' response to the onshore wind planning consultation [March 2023]
The government’s ‘Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy consultation’ claimed to relax planning constraint that have effectively banned onshore wind in England since 2015. Our response was co-signed by Power to Change, Plymouth Energy Community, en10ergy, Communities for Renewables CIC, Atlantic Energy Ltd, Bishop’s Castle Climate Action Group and the Othona Community.
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Policy Response
Joint letter with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on onshore wind [February 2023]
We signed this letter coordinated by Possible, along with at least 15 community energy colleagues, urging the government to open up onshore wind.
