We need to see urgent action in this regard. Other countries are forging ahead with numerous locally generated schemes, and we ought to have as many, if not more.
5 pm
We are considering the Bill without the benefit of having seen a Government community energy strategy. Both the energy Minister and the Secretary of State confirmed in Committee that a consultation paper on such a strategy would be published in March, but alas we are still waiting six months on. The delay was confirmed two weeks ago by the Minister in answer to a parliamentary question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Tom Greatrex), when he said that the community energy strategy would be published “later this year”. The matter will be of concern to all Members, not least the hon. Members for Hove (Mike Weatherley) and for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas), who have also tabled amendments on community energy.
Most notably, community energy groups have expressed the view that the threshold for the fixed feed-in tariff is not high enough. The current threshold is 5 MW. When we pressed the Secretary of State on the issue in January, he produced what was probably the most insightful piece of analysis that I heard during the Committee stage. He said:
“Let us be clear. In our discussions on that, the vast majority of community energy schemes that we are seeing are below that threshold.”––[Official Report, Energy Public Bill Committee, 15 January 2013; c. 16, Q39.]
Yes, because that is what the threshold is. That is why it is called a threshold.
Let me be equally clear. Our amendment 1 would correct that flaw, and increase the feed-in tariff threshold from 5 MW to not less than 10 MW. That is the action that community energy projects throughout the country are crying out for.