In response to the Town Hall’s energy company plans, Charlie Kiss, Green Party candidate for Islington South & Finsbury, said “offering another alternative to the big six energy suppliers is an empowering step, and could offer social and economic benefits. For too long the country’s main energy companies have been making huge profits from customers with little regard for the communities they serve or for the planet. Although there are smaller renewable energy companies these have struggled to reach the mass market so far. Deregulation was supposed to bring competition and a better deal for the consumer and businesses but has utterly failed to deliver this.”
As well as buying energy on the open market, Islington Green Party will be encouraging the Council to use their own energy sources and invest in alternative and renewable energy generation schemes across the borough such as solar panels on schools and council buildings, and installing more Combined Heat and Power (CHP) to provide estates with cheaper heating as well as electricity.
Cllr Caroline Russell said, “Setting up and running this innovative scheme potentially involves every aspect of the business from bulk buying of energy on the open market – while selling it at a set price – to creating software for billing and running a customer help desk. This will be expensive and involves serious financial risk, which could impact the whole council budget.
If the council is going to take this forward we need a radical model. Instead of focusing purely on reducing bills in the short term, profits should fund free home energy reduction measures, and installation of renewables and insulation to help ‘lock in’ lower energy bills for the long term, reduce carbon emissions and create local jobs.”