Building support for Early Day Motion 2151 – Buying Community Energy Locally
Take action to ensure that the Government fulfils its promise to make the reform we are calling for: Ask your MP to ‘Please sign EDM 2151, which calls on the Government to enable community energy projects to sell their clean energy directly to local homes and businesses.’
Community energy is where groups of local people organise to build and run clean energy projects in their area. Most commonly, these are solar panels on larger buildings like community centres or libraries, or wind turbines in nearby fields. The revenues stay local, supporting a wide range of community initiatives, from energy savings advice to youth training programmes or local habitat protection schemes.
Currently, these remarkable projects cannot sell the clean energy they generate directly to local homes and businesses, and must instead sell to large energy companies for a fraction of the price. This is blocking their dramatic potential for growth.
That is why we are campaigning for direct local selling. This would make many more community energy projects possible and create the opportunity to buy affordable, clean energy from local projects run by local people for the benefit of local communities.
In July, our collective action secured a public commitment from the Government to implement the needed reforms. The Government Minister responsible for community energy, Michael Shanks MP, said in Parliament, “That is exactly what we are determined to do and we will continue to work to make it happen.”
Ensuring the Government walks the talk
It has been four months since this commitment was made yet there has been nothing forthcoming from the Government. We are increasingly concerned about this ongoing delay.
We have, therefore, worked with MPs from all major political parties to organise a parliamentary motion – known as an Early Day Motion (EDM) – that calls on the Government to make the needed reforms promptly.
You can view the motion here. The text is as follows:
That this House recognises the many social, economic and environmental benefits that community energy schemes create; notes that the number of such schemes would grow greatly if they were enabled to sell their clean power directly to households and businesses in their communities; welcomes the Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero's oral contribution on 15 July 2025, stating that the Government are absolutely determined to deliver clean power that benefits local communities, so that they can buy it locally; further notes that there are many energy system experts that can help devise an effective local supply process; and therefore calls on the Government to expeditiously implement local supply rights for community energy schemes.
Please write to your MP
This is an opportunity for your MP to publicly register their support by adding their name. The more MPs that sign the EDM, the greater the chance of ending the Government’s delay. It has made an excellent start, with 60 MPs signed on at the time of writing. Here is what you can do to support:
Find out who your MP is here, if you don’t know already.
Check the list (here) to see if your MP has already signed the EDM. If they have, please write to them thanking them for signing EDM 2151 and asking them to ‘Please write to the Energy Minister, Michael Shanks MP, asking when people and businesses will be enabled to buy community energy locally.’
If your MP has not yet signed, please write asking them to: ‘Please sign EDM 2151, which calls on the Government to enable community energy projects to sell their clean energy directly to local homes and businesses.’
You can use WriteToThem to write to your MP. Please write your message in your own words, as this will likely be far more effective. A few brief but genuine words are all that is needed. If you need further advice on what to say, let us know through the ‘Get In Touch’ form at the bottom of this page and one of our team can help you out. You may also find our short guide to writing to your MP helpful.
Do also note that some MPs will not be able to sign the EDM. If your MP falls into this category and you aren’t sure how to proceed, please contact us.
Finally: please share any reply you receive with us, as this will help us to track parliamentary support.