A Community Energy Co. for north and east Wiltshire
Kennet Community Energy Limited
News Updates
Kennet Community Energy Limited: is now a registered Industrial & Provident Society and has begun to raise capital to start deploying renewable enrgy projects.
All further reporting and updates on KCEL are now being made from its dedicated web site at:
One of the ideas that arose when Transition Marlborough was first established is whether we could form a Community Energy Company.
This type of organisation has come to the fore in recent years and there are lots of examples around e.g.
Bath & West Community Energy - Bath & West Community Energy has been incorporated as an Industrial and Provident Society (IPS) – Community Benefit Society.
Brighton Energy Co-operative - Brighton Energy Limited is a Community Benefit Society (CBS)
Ouse Valley Energy Services Company Ltd - OVESCo Limited is an Industrial & Provident Society for community benefit set up in 2010
The business model for all these organisations is very similar i.e.:
- there is a legal company structure, which limits individual liability, but is a not-for-profit community based or co-operative structure
- they issue shares, typically restricting investment to a minimum of £500 and a maximum of £20,000
- share-holders i.e. members all vote for any significant activity, but each share-holder has only one vote irrespective of their investment level
- there is a clear set of rules which specify how the company operates with a Board of Directors elected by members
- the capital raised from share-holders is used to fund sustainable energy projects in the local area
- the returns from these projects (which are very dependent upon Government backed ‘clean energy cashback’ or Feed in Tariffs) are used to pay a dividend and to fund other related projects in the local area
- returns of around 5-7% from an investment is likely, although the actual return will vary depending on actual financial performance and is not guaranteed
- all the organisations are initially focussed upon the installation of photovoltaic (PV) solar systems, but are in principle looking at any form of sustainable energy production
The good news is that a new north and east Wiltshire Community Energy Company, called Kennet Community Energy, has now been formed.
See www.kennetenergy.org.uk for more details.