Members’ newsletter 20 March 2015
A lot has happened in the world of community energy since my last newsletter. We have had a great
victory within the Budget; the exclusion of community energy generation schemes from the
Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed EIS (SEIS) will now be delayed, with a transition period
of 6 months following state aid clearance. The date of state aid clearance has not yet been
confirmed but the likelihood is that this will mean a delay of at least a year. As you will know from
previous newsletters, without this delay EIS and SEIS would have been withdrawn in a couple of
weeks. Your board along with, in particular, Co-operative Energy, Co-operatives UK and Social
Enterprise UK have worked hard to make this happen so I would like to extend my gratitude and
thanks to them for this.
This news was particularly exciting as it came through during our Regulation, Registration and Tax
Incentives seminar. We are holding a further event on Monday 30th March in London, more details
here.
We have also been informed that the FCA will be engaging further with stakeholders about the
registration of co-operatives and community benefit societies (see below). Again this was in large
part down to lobbying from Community Energy England with Co-operative Energy, Co-operatives UK
and Social Enterprise UK and so it is nice to now know that the emails, discussions and long days
have all been worth it!
The 2015 update on progress against the Community Energy Strategy was also published yesterday.
You can view the full update here and a brief summary is provided below.
This issue is shorter than previous newsletters due to the amount of work still taking place behind
the scenes in the run up to the election, but I hope it gives you a flavour of the breadth of activity
taking place, the progress we are making and some of the challenges and opportunities still to come.
With only 47 days to go now until the General Election, we will be emailing next week with some key
asks for members to put to their local candidates in the last stages of the run-up to the General
Election. Let’s work together to make sure that community energy features as a priority for all
political parties.
Emma Bridge
Chief Executive
Budget 2015
Not many wins for the environment, but there were welcome changes for community energy and
wider social investment. We will be exploring what these mean for the sector in more detail but
have provided a summary below:
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The exclusion of community energy generation schemes from the EIS, SEIS and Venture
Capital Trusts will be delayed, with a transition period of 6 months following state aid
clearance
New Social Venture Capital Trusts will now be possible, with the same relief and exceptions
as SITR. Further details will follow in a future Finance Bill
The government will change the regulatory status of SITR funds so that they can be
promoted on the same basis as EIS funds
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The government will extend the range of ISA eligible investments in 2015-16 to include listed
bonds issued by a co-operative society and community benefit society.
Update on the registration of co-operatives
We have been informed that the FCA is considering the responses from their consultation last year
on Guidance on the FCA’s registration function under the Co-operative and Community Benefit
Societies Act 2014 which generated over 500 replies. They now plan to further engage with
stakeholders and alongside this aim to issue a further draft of the guidance which will address issues
of clarity and consistency raised by consultation respondents.
This does mean that their existing policy remains in force until the consultation process is complete
and the final guidance has been published (expected to be in the autumn), however CEE will
continue to work to demonstrate to the FCA the benefits that community energy co-operatives bring
to the community.
DECC has produced a guide outlining their take on the differences between Co-operatives and
Community Benefit Societies.
Community Energy Strategy Update
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has published its update to the Community
Energy Strategy. It sets out the progress that has been made since the publication of the strategy in
January 2014 and looks forward to key areas of action for the sector and Government over the next
12 months to drive further progress and accelerate the revolution in the way that energy is
generated and used. It also includes DECC’s responses to the Planning, Grid and Hydro Working
Groups outlining what they are taking forward.
Announcements include:
 Almost £1 million to develop a best practice local authority community energy programme
 £1.3 million for the Big Energy Saving Network
 Commissioning of new research to build on our community energy evidence base
 Creation of a new Community Energy Efficiency Working Group
 Funding 17 Community Energy Savings Competition projects, above our original
commitment of funding 5 projects
 Introducing a new innovation programme on solid wall insulation to help skill up community
energy groups during the installation process
Community Energy England welcomes the update and is now looking in detail at the Strategy to see
where action needs most to be focussed.
Community Energy Hub
The Energy Saving Trust is working hard on developing a Community Energy Hub to support
community groups to take more control of the energy they use, to cut their heating and electricity
bills and help the UK address its energy and climate change challenges. This hub (previously known
as the one-stop-shop or CESAR/Community Energy Support and Advice Resource) is due to launch in
the summer. It is being funded by DECC and, alongside the Energy Saving Trust, is being developed
with Project Dirt, SE2 and CEE. We will provide further details in a future newsletter but for now
would like to put an appeal out for high quality photos showing community energy in practice to
go on the Community Energy Hub. Members who have provided photos previously for our website
do not need to resubmit their photos for inclusion on the Hub.
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Save the Date! Community Energy Fortnight 2015
Following the success of last year’s Community Energy Fortnight, the Community Energy Coalition
starting to make preparations for this year’s series of events. The aim of the Fortnight is to celebrate
how communities are uniting to generate, own and save their energy and will take place from 5th –
20th September with a big launch conference taking place on the Saturday 5th September. More
details to follow.
Membership
Welcome to our newest members:
 Bewdley Energy Group
 Double T
 Earthworm Energy
 Grimsby Community Energy Company
 Hartsop Hydro
 Locality
 The Naturesave Trust and Naturesave Insurance
 Transition Constantine
 Wembrook Energy
Member news
Regen SW is recruiting an Events, Communications and Membership Coordinator. To find out more
details on this and other opportunities please visit our member vacancies page
Member Share Offers
A number of our members currently have share offers out:
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Avalon Community Energy
Brendon Energy
Bury Community Hydro
Liverpool Community Renewables
PEC Renewables
Schools Energy Co-operative
Springbok Sustainable Woodheat Co-operative
And Sharenergy who are running 9 share offers
We are adding all of these to our Share Offers webpage so please check on there for the latest
opportunities.
Events
CEE events
We still have just a few places left on our Regulation, Registration and Tax Incentives event in
London on 30th March
The programme for The future of Energy Generation: Shared Community Ownership event on 22nd
April in Leeds is now being finalised. This event will explore what shared ownership is, how it can
benefit both the local community and developers, experiences from other schemes, how to make it
work from a legal point of view and how CEE can facilitate. Further details will shortly be available on
our events page. Email us to pre-register.
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Other News
The Social Economy Alliance has launched a Social Economy Charter, which makes specific reference
to community energy, asking candidates to pledge their support to the social economy in the next
Parliament. A special site has been set up which enables individuals to easily and quickly send the
charter to their local candidates.
Please let us know if other people in your organisation want to receive our newsletter, or if you wish
to unsubscribe from future newsletters.
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