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Below is a suggestion for what you could write to your MP.
If you are short of time, copy and paste this into an email to your MP.
If you have a few minutes more, personalise this.
Remember to be polite or your letter may be ignored!
Dear
I'm writing to you out of concern over recent announcements that will put an end to the growing interest amongst communities in England to generate their own medium to large scale clean energy.
I urge you to write to Justine Greening MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, to raise our concerns about this decision and the impact it would have on local community renewable energy schemes.I would be grateful if you would also ask the Minister if she would meet with a small delegation of community energy experts. The Coalition programme for government sets out an important commitment to encourage “community-owned renewable energy schemes” and states it will “support the creation and expansion of mutual, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises”.
Community energy doesn't have to just mean micro-generation. Communities are interested in generating a meaningful amount of clean energy that will contribute a much needed, significant local income. These projects are all not-for-profit, social enterprises that will ensure that any money generated through government support will be recycled back into further local enterprises and services for public benefit.
These ambitions are being threatened by three recent government announcements. We urge you to call for community interest companies and social enterprises to be exempt from these changes:
These three changes will make it very difficult and in some cases impossible for community projects to get funding together.
That impact goes against many of the government's own objectives: decentralised decision making, decentralised energy generation, increasing renewable energy generation, reducing carbon emissions, big society and the creation of sustainable rural communities.
We agree with the government's concerns that this financial support shouldn't be going to private companies making excess profits from large scale solar farms. But that shouldn't prevent exciting and ambitious not-for-profit community enterprises.
I am sure that this oversight can be addressed with the exemption from these changes for any community benefit organisation that has a social enterprise legal structure (such as a community interest company or co-operative).
I urge you to raise this as a priority issue before the decisions are made in July 2011.
Yours Sincerely,
Below is a suggestion for what you could write to your MP.
If you are short of time, copy and paste this into an email to your MP.
If you have a few minutes more, personalise this.
Remember to be polite or your letter may be ignored!
Dear
I'm writing to you out of concern over recent announcements that will put an end to the growing interest amongst communities in England to generate their own medium to large scale clean energy.
I urge you to write to Justine Greening MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, to raise our concerns about this decision and the impact it would have on local community renewable energy schemes.I would be grateful if you would also ask the Minister if she would meet with a small delegation of community energy experts. The Coalition programme for government sets out an important commitment to encourage “community-owned renewable energy schemes” and states it will “support the creation and expansion of mutual, co-operatives, charities and social enterprises”.
Community energy doesn't have to just mean micro-generation. Communities are interested in generating a meaningful amount of clean energy that will contribute a much needed, significant local income. These projects are all not-for-profit, social enterprises that will ensure that any money generated through government support will be recycled back into further local enterprises and services for public benefit.
These ambitions are being threatened by three recent government announcements. We urge you to call for community interest companies and social enterprises to be exempt from these changes:
- The proposed revision to the feed-in tariff for solar PV that removes support for projects greater than 50kW (i.e. a scale of generation equivalent to the annual consumption of 10 average homes).
- The budget announcement that feed in tariff (FIT) businesses will be excluded from Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trust (VCT) investor tax relief;
- The budget announcement that the capital allowances policy for FIT businesses is to be reviewed;
These three changes will make it very difficult and in some cases impossible for community projects to get funding together.
That impact goes against many of the government's own objectives: decentralised decision making, decentralised energy generation, increasing renewable energy generation, reducing carbon emissions, big society and the creation of sustainable rural communities.
We agree with the government's concerns that this financial support shouldn't be going to private companies making excess profits from large scale solar farms. But that shouldn't prevent exciting and ambitious not-for-profit community enterprises.
I am sure that this oversight can be addressed with the exemption from these changes for any community benefit organisation that has a social enterprise legal structure (such as a community interest company or co-operative).
I urge you to raise this as a priority issue before the decisions are made in July 2011.
Yours Sincerely,