Suppliers urged to buy community energy

Community Energy England has called on suppliers to create a new route to market for community energy schemes following the closure of the feed-in tariff to new applicants at the end of March.

The organisation says more should follow the lead of Co-op Energy which has previously pledged to offer power purchase agreements to all such projects, regardless of their size.

The company has agreements in place for 79 projects and in February launched its Community Power tariff, which matches 100 per cent of customers’ electricity demand with power purchased from community energy schemes for an additional cost of £5 per month.

“They are leading the way and demonstrating that responsible businesses don’t need to wait for government to act,” said Community Energy England chief executive Emma Bridge.

“Instead they are providing measures to allow community energy schemes to access a route to market now, with the knowledge that they will receive a fair price for their energy.

“We call on the other energy suppliers to also offer suitable tariffs for community energy groups… We often hear warm words from the big suppliers, this is a chance to see them take practical action.”

Co-op Energy chief executive David Bird commented: “Promoting renewable energy and being clear about how and where it is produced and who benefits can encourage customers to change their energy consumption habits as we move to a digital and decentralised power system.

“Community energy groups can help us do this as they are the local, trusted and visible groups that are showing how clean, green energy can benefit neighbourhoods up and down the country.

“Through our new Community Power tariff, Co-op Energy customers are now supporting 79 different community energy groups by buying electricity exclusively from community energy schemes.”

Co-op Energy is also offering to purchase Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin certificates from community energy schemes at a price of £1/MWh – more than five times the current market rate.

The government intends to replace the export element of the feed-in tariff with a new smart export guarantee (SEG) that forces suppliers to pay customers for surplus electricity they feed in to the grid.

Earlier this week, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published the second of two consultations on the SEG, this time setting out the proposed changes to supply license conditions needed to implement the measure.

Octopus Energy recently became the first supplier to launch an export tariff for customers with solar panels. Eon has also announced it is offering a “solar reward” for exports worth 5.24p/kWh to first 500 customers to have solar panels installed by the supplier.