About Upham

UpACC Energy Subgroup (Chair: Mark Orr)

Here are some of the initial ideas of the UpACC Energy group:

  • The group agreed to write to the local MP to urge her support of the Electricity Bill to help facilitate a possible bid for a community owned solar farm. Initial work involving liaison with other projects was agreed to see how feasible this was for Upham. Details of the proposals can be found at https://powerforpeople.org.uk/, and further guidance on what to include in your letter will be available on the village website soon.
  • The group was keen to explore potential for smaller projects at village owned assets eg sports pavilion.
  • We agreed to trial using HVO as an alternative to kerosene for home heating and feedback.
  • We are proposing to trial use of a UV camera to explore effectiveness of home insulation. If useful it will look at grant possibilities for funding of appx £600 for a village owned camera.
  • The Group proposed to repeat the Green Open Homes in May or June to enable potential adopters to view the many options for ‘green’ energy some of which the Group members have experience. Next meeting in early May.

Volunteers to assist in executing the Energy Group’s plans are welcome : Contact Mark Orr – 01489 860275 or markjorr@gmail.com

Community Energy Group

As you will see in the Upham Update, Upham Action on Climate Change has been set up following the very successful Climate Café in February. One of the early actions for UpACC’s Energy group is to investigate the potential for a Community Energy project to generate electricity locally.

There is currently a bill due to go before parliament (the Local Electricity Bill) which would allow a Community Energy Company to sell direct to local consumers, avoiding the horrendous markup which the big six electricity suppliers charge, in order to pay for the electricity National Grid. This bill would, if it passed, make a huge difference to the viability of any Community Energy Company. Whilst it is early days in the investigation of a C E C for Upham, we would therefore urge you to write to Flick Drummond our MP to ask her to support the Bill.

We would ask you to write in your own words. Details of the proposals can be found at https://powerforpeople.org.uk/

Some headline points you may care to use.

  • The bill is currently supported by 318 MPs across all parties.
  • Currently less than 1% of the country’s electricity is generated by Community based Energy Companies. The movement is held back by the charging structure for the national grid, and if released by the Bill there is potential for 10% of all our electricity needs to be met by locally generated supplies. These would be from renewable sources and would greatly boost our energy security.
  • The provisions of the bill were recommended by the governments own net zero review in January
  • The Local Electricity Bill is a private members bill and as such may take a long time to get to parliament. However there are moves to have its proposals put into a government Bill (the Energy Bill) currently going before the House of Lords. This would be a much quicker route to action.

We hope you will be able to take the time to write to Flick Drummond to urge her to support either the Energy Bill (if it gets amended) or the Local Electricity Bill. Even if Upham itself does not progress with a Community Energy Company (and we hope it is able to) this legislation would potentially benefit many villages in Hampshire and beyond, and speed our progress towards net zero.