Oral Answers to Questions

Selaine Saxby Excerpts

Tuesday 29th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

3. What steps his Department is taking to help support the growth of the community energy sector.

[The Minister for Climate (Graham Stuart)]

Ofgem supports community energy projects and welcomes applications from the sector to the industry voluntary redress scheme. We encourage community energy groups to work with their local authority to support the development of community energy projects through UK-wide growth funding schemes.

[Selaine Saxby]

Will my right hon. Friend support measures to enable community energy schemes to sell their clean power directly to local customers, as contained in last Session’s Local Electricity Bill, and look at including them in the Energy Bill?

[Graham Stuart]

Although I am sympathetic to the outcome desired by proponents of, for instance, last Session’s Local Electricity Bill, I am concerned that mandating suppliers to offer local tariffs may be disproportionate and have unintended consequences. But I am delighted to tell my hon. Friend, who I recognise is a great champion in this area, that as part of a wider review of market mechanisms we are considering retail market reforms and responses to the electricity market consultation.