We welcome the UK Government taking the first steps to decouple gas and electricity prices. This has the potential to bring down household energy costs and also make district heating projects financially viable.
However, the announcements show a lack of joined up thinking across departments, with not even a single mention of community energy despite the UK Government’s own ambitious target of 8GW of community and local energy by 2030. Given all of the additional social and economic benefits of community energy, including local employment, energy resilience and investment in local priorities, this is a missed opportunity.
There is significant potential to introduce not only a wholesale Contracts for Difference (CfD) programme for all electricity generators but also a bespoke community CfD to provide income certainty and viable financial models for the next generation of community energy projects.
Likewise, when considering its own estate, the UK Government could consider in what ways it can prioritise community-owned energy projects on its land and buildings. This would not only help to accelerate progress towards renewables targets but would also have significant additional value for local communities.
