Today campaign group, Power for People, thanked local Waveney MP, Peter Aldous, for championing community renewable energy at a recent debate in Parliament.

Central to the debate was the proposal to create a ‘Right to Local Supply’ via a proposed new law, known as the Local Electricity Bill, that Mr Wright is supporting, along with a cross-party group of 290 MPs. The Bill aims to help rebuild local economies whilst increasing domestically generated clean energy, helping to reduce the UK’s reliance on gas imports.

Regulatory barriers that result from outdated energy market rules are preventing community energy schemes from flourishing. Mr Aldous highlighted this at the debate,“the rationale for empowering community energy schemes is compelling. To decarbonise our energy supply, our transport system and our heating networks we need a shedload of electricity. We need to be firing on all cylinders…To enable community energy to play that full role, regulatory barriers need to come down. Work on doing that needs to start straightaway.”

If made law, the Local Electricity Bill would empower community-owned local energy companies to sell locally generated renewable electricity directly to local households and businesses, helping to make new schemes financially viable. It would do this by making the costs of being an energy supplier proportionate to the size of the business.

Currently customers can only purchase electricity from nationally licensed utilities. The Bill’s supporters say this means money people use to pay their energy bills is not helping to rebuild local economies and local clean energy infrastructure.

Campaigning group, Power for People, are calling for MPs and the government to make the Bill law and are leading a supportive coalition of organisations including Community Energy Wales, Community Energy England, Community Energy Scotland, WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the RSPB. 101 County and Local Authorities have also pledged their support.

Power for People’s Director, Steve Shaw, said, “We thank Peter Aldous for supporting the Local Electricity Bill and for highlighting the need to create a ‘Right to Local Supply’ by seeing the Bill enacted. If made law, the Bill would unlock the huge potential for new community-owned clean energy infrastructure and for this to boost jobs and the economy in Waveney and in communities across the UK.”

Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney, said, “A Right to Local Supply will empower and enable new community energy companies to sell energy that they generate directly to local people. This will help strengthen local economies and reduce our dependence on natural gas. The Local Electricity Bill would enshrine a Right to Local Supply in law and I will do all I can to ensure it succeeds.”

Responding to the debate on behalf of the government, Energy Minister, Greg Hands MP, said of the Bill that the Government “agree with the broad intentions”, but not the detail. The campaign continues.