On the day I became prime minister, I pledged to bring power to every postcode. Today, we begin to make good on that promise in the most literal sense. With nearly £30m of funding for People’s Power projects, communities across every nation of the UK will soon have the chance to build and control their own clean energy supply.
This investment means villages, towns and cities can harness the natural resources around them with solar panels on libraries, publicly owned windfarms, hydro schemes in their rivers, or whatever else works for them. The purpose is to put money back in people’s pockets while giving them a direct role in tackling the climate crisis. Every council and community group awarded funding will have at least part-ownership in its renewable energy projects.
That means, in the years ahead, more and more communities in Britain will do more than simply host solar panels and wind turbines. They will own a stake in them and retain a share of the wealth they create. Today’s announcement is part of this government’s sustained effort to make energy more affordable.
In my first week in office, I said I would remove VAT from household electricity bills. From the beginning of October, that policy kicks in, giving families some much-needed breathing room. But the only lasting way to bring down bills is to produce more of our own clean, renewable energy at home, which People’s Power will achieve.
I am acutely aware that our changing climate is a major concern for many Britons, not least because we have just emerged from our hottest summer on record. Punishing heatwaves left nurses collapsing on hospital wards and bus drivers working in 40C cabs. Wildfires destroyed homes, leaving families with nothing.
And more extreme weather is forecast in the months ahead. The climate crisis is not a distant threat. It is here and with us now.
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