This one slid out un-noticed… As a former Lib-Dem who would really like to see them make a progressive impact on UK politics rather than simply providing the safety net for the Tory Shock Doctrine cuts, this is rather heart-warming.
It may be August silly-season, but Chris ‘ watch my lips, no more nuclear power stations’ Huhne, has overturned a law that banned councils from selling renewable energy. One might ask quite why such a law existed, but we’d have to understand the inner workings of Gordon Brown for that, I suspect, and that’s a lifetime’s thankless task, so we won’t bother. But instead, enjoy the full Press Release here, or this excerpt below and be glad of sanity in the wheels of government.
- Energy Secretary overturns law banning councils from selling renewable electricity
- Full benefit of renewable incentives will spur local power revolution and bring in income to benefit local areas
Councils across Britain will from next week be allowed to sell renewable electricity to the grid and should assume their rightful place leading a local power revolution, Chris Huhne will say today in a letter to all local authorities.
At present only 0.01% of electricity in England is generated by local authority-owned renewables, despite the scope that exists to install projects on their land and buildings. In Germany the equivalent figure is 100 times higher.
In one of the first energy policy actions of the coalition government, a ban on local authorities selling renewable electricity will end on 18 August. This will open new sources of income including the full benefit of the feed in tariff which incentivises renewable electricity. It could mean up to £100 million a year in income for local authorities across England and Wales.
Lib Dem spin on it here… (Huhne calls on councils to start a green power revolution)
