Status of community energy co-ops
Over the last six months, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed regulations that put at risk the way co-operatives are defined and how they raise capital. This has particularly affected the community energy organisations set up as a cooperative (ECOE is a community benefit society).
Co-operatives UK and Community Energy England – both of which we are members of – are actively involved in lobbying for a fairer approach from a community energy perspective. Read more
Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Social Investment Tax Relief
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is a mechanism to give 30% income tax relief on investments in new enterprises. The decision to abolish EIS for community energy groups was announced in the autumn statement with the intention for SITR to replace EIS. Although our first project recently received advance assurance from HMRC that investors would be eligible for this scheme, as yet there is no indication whether April 5th 2015 will remain the date when EIS ends. We are following developments and will keep you posted.
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Shared ownership
The Community Energy Strategy announced in Jan 2014 included a commitment to develop shared ownership opportunities for developing renewables and a taskforce was set up to achieve this. This has led to FiT being extended for solar developments from 5MW up to 10MW if there is shared ownership with a community energy group. As a result commercial developers are looking to partner with community energy groups on solar projects. We are working with Community Energy England and Regen South West to identify possibilities in the local area for community ownership of proposed projects. The advantage of shared ownership is increasing the proportion of the benefits that stay local and are for the community.
Read more about the government task force
Read more about shared ownership
