A ban on councils selling green electricity into the national grid is to be overturned, Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has announced as the carbon footprint of every local council in England is published.
In a speech to the Local Government Association annual conference, Mr Huhne said he wants local councils to be allowed to sell electricity they produce from renewables to the national electricity grid.
Mr Huhne said: “It’s ridiculous that the 1976 Local Government Act prevents councils from selling electricity from local wind turbines, or from anaerobic digestion.
“I want to see this repealed and by the end of the year I hope local authorities will be able to sell electricity from renewables – generating revenue to help local services and keep Council Tax down. Local communities can truly benefit from the low-carbon transition.”
The announcement was welcomed by Juliet Davenport, CEO and founder of Good Energy, who said the move would help the UK achieve its renewable energy targets but warned against councils becoming embroiled in costly, large-scale projects.
She added: “Good Energy welcomes the announcement from Chris Huhne that councils will now be allowed to sell green electricity. Local authorities have a critical role to play in helping the UK produce more homegrown renewable electricity, which is better for our energy security as well as helping reduce carbon emissions, and allowing them to sell electricity should help them to do this.
“In addition, given their involvement with new housing developments, low-income homes and housing associations, local authorities are able to contribute a great deal to new sources of renewable generation, as well as tackling issues surrounding fuel poverty. And, for most, accounting for their relative size gives them access to low-cost finance so they should be able to achieve considerable economies-of-scale on the cost of generation equipment.
“However – there is one caveat. While we believe local authorities should be able to participate within the electricity market, to the extent of accessing the FiT and on-selling exported electricity, the electricity supply industry is incredibly complex, heavily regulated and expensive to participate in.
"From Good Energy’s own experience as a non-vertically-integrated supplier of electricity, we don’t think councils should be taking on large financial risks, and regulatory exemptions should remain in place.”
And Cllr Gary Porter, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Environment Board, commented: “This announcement is a victory for councils who want to transform the way we provide cheap and green power for millions of people.
“Town halls across the country are desperate to install solar panels and other renewable energy measures on millions of homes, offices, leisure centres and other council buildings.
“This has the potential to revolutionise the way we produce electricity by turning town halls into green power stations. This could save huge amounts of money to help maintain services in these difficult financial times and keep council tax down.”
The carbon footprint of every local council in England is also published today, for the first time.
The new figures calculate the CO2 produced by councils in powering and heating their buildings, such as libraries, schools and leisure centres, as well as emissions from business travel, fleet vehicles and even refuse trucks.
Mr Huhne said: “By calculating their own emissions and the estimated costs of energy use, local councils will be able to identify how to save emissions and save money.
“Wasting energy means that money that could be spent on local services is also being wasted. These new statistics should put energy wastage and energy efficiency at the forefront of the minds of councillors and council officials.”
The emissions data was collected from local authorities across England for the 2008/2009 financial year. It shows that:
• The lowest emitters were East Cambridgeshire (574 tonnes), East Northamptonshire (606 tonnes), Broadland (806 tonnes), Isles of Scilly (854 tonnes), and West Somerset (881 tonnes) local authorities.
• The highest emitters were Birmingham (177,360 tonnes) Hertfordshire (168,570 tonnes), Lancashire (157,890 tonnes), Leeds (136,900 tonnes) and Hampshire (133,950 tonnes) local authorities.
In total, local authorities were responsible for 8.3 million tonnes of CO2 which is about 1.6% of the UK Total Net CO2 emissions for calendar year 2008 (532.8 MtCO2).
The data also shows how much electricity local authorities have generated themselves, with over 600,000 KWh generated from onsite wind or solar power, and 33,800,000 KWh from onsite biomass.
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