Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make it his policy to enable community-owned small-scale energy generators to sell electricity directly to local consumers.

The Government recognises the role that access to local energy will play in achieving net zero. The Government’s licence exemption regimes already allow small scale suppliers, including many community energy groups, to come to market to supply local customers. One general exemption is the Class A Small Supplier exemption, under which a producer of energy who produces no more than 5MW of energy, of which no more than 2.5MW is provided to domestic consumers, does not need a licence to supply.

In addition. Ofgem has flexibility to award supply licenses to generation sites that are above the exemptions threshold when they are restricted to specified local area.