Community Energy England, Scotland and Wales: The Membership Bodies

Community energy in Great Britain is represented by three membership bodies, one for each nation: Community Energy England, Community Energy Scotland and Community Energy Wales. Between them they cover the same territory as GB energy policy itself, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales¹. Their shared work is substantial: a joint annual State of the Sector report, coordinated responses to government consultations, and a common case that local generation should sit at the centre of the UK's energy system.

The sector they represent is delivering at a scale that surprises most people. The Social Housing Fund alone received a £100 million boost to support up to 57,000 solar installations for households in England², and Scotland's Community and Renewable Energy Scheme has provided over £67 million to communities, supporting over 960 projects and 63 MW of installed renewable energy since it began³.

The most significant recent development is parliamentary. The Energy Security and Net Zero Committee launched an inquiry into community energy in November 2024 and published its report on 17 June 2026, making recommendations to the Government and stating a community energy target of 8 GW by 2030⁴. This page sets out who the bodies are, what the sector delivers, and what membership and funding mean for a local group.

Membership organisations and the groups they represent

The three bodies mirror the structure of energy policy in Great Britain, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales rather than to the UK as a whole¹. The same territorial shape runs through the official machinery around them: Ofgem's consumer satisfaction surveys cover domestic energy consumers in England, Scotland and Wales⁶, and the National Energy Efficiency Data-Framework applies to the same three nations. Northern Ireland has separate arrangements and is not covered by these bodies.

In Scotland, the membership body sits alongside a well-developed official support structure. The Community and Renewable Energy Scheme, known as CARES, is delivered by Local Energy Scotland and encourages community ownership of renewable energy projects across the country, helping to maximise the benefits of renewable energy systems and ensuring that delivery of community energy comes with benefits for people in Scotland⁷. CARES supports progress towards the Scottish Government's target of two GW of community and locally owned energy in Scotland⁷.

Wales has its own body and its own policy machinery. The Welsh Government is the delivery body for home energy-efficiency support in Wales⁶, and regional planning is under way: the Energy Systems Catapult has worked with the mid Wales region of Powys and Ceredigion to develop local area energy plans⁸. For a household or group, the practical meaning is that the body for your nation is the route into national policy conversations, while the devolved governments run the funding and advice schemes on the ground. More on how local projects work is at community energy, and the nation pages cover England, Scotland and Wales in detail.

What the sector delivers: 57,000 solar installations and 1.7 TWh off coal

The headline delivery figures come from the official schemes the sector feeds into. The Social Housing Fund received a £100 million boost to support the delivery of up to 57,000 solar installations for households in England². In Scotland, CARES has provided over £67 million in funding to communities, supporting over 960 projects and the installation of 63 MW of renewable energy since inception³.

The carbon case is set out in official guidance. Heating with fossil fuels like gas and oil contributes 17% of the UK's total emissions⁹, which is why community heat decarbonisation projects matter. The New Warm Homes Programme in Wales is estimated to deliver 2.11 million tonnes of carbon savings, with societal benefits worth £314 million using HM Treasury guidance¹⁰. At the national level, the Climate Change Committee reports a 1.7 TWh reduction in coal generation in 2024 compared with 2023¹¹.

For a household thinking about energy independence, these figures show where community energy fits: it is the route to generation and efficiency improvements that an individual home cannot deliver alone, from a shared solar array to a district heat scheme. The dependence that remains is on the scheme administrators and on grid connection, which is why the bodies' policy work concentrates on export payments and connection costs.

The joint annual State of the Sector report

The three bodies publish a joint annual State of the Sector report, which aggregates what community energy groups across the three nations have delivered in generation, carbon savings and social impact. The report itself is published through the bodies' own channels; what can be verified here is the official statistical base it draws on.

That base is substantial. UK energy in brief 2026 provides a summary of some of the key annual statistics in the UK energy system¹². Fuel poverty statistics for England are published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero¹³. Ofgem requires energy suppliers to publicly share their annual installation target under the Rollout Framework covering 2022 to 2025¹⁴, and its consumer research publishes two indicators of customer satisfaction for seven energy supply groups: overall satisfaction with their supplier, and satisfaction with the customer service they have received¹⁵. The most recent survey round, covering July to August 2025, found overall satisfaction reaching the highest level recorded since the survey began in 2018¹⁶.

The significance for a community group is that State of the Sector gives the evidence base for funding applications and for the bodies' advocacy. A group arguing for a grant or a connection can point to sector-wide delivery figures rather than its own project alone. The wider context on measuring independence is at self-sufficiency ratio.

Smart Export Guarantee and consultation responses

The bodies' most sustained policy engagement has been on export payments, the mechanism that determines whether a community generation project earns anything for the power it sends to the grid. The Smart Export Guarantee launched on 1 January 2020 and is a government-backed initiative¹⁷. It enables small-scale low-carbon electricity generators in Great Britain, known as SEG generators, to receive payment for exported electricity¹⁸.

The scheme's legislative history shows how it was designed. The Smart Export Guarantee Order 2019 was laid following consultations whose government response was published simultaneously with the legislation in June 2019¹⁹, and the earlier consultation on a Smart Export Guarantee had a territorial extent of Great Britain²⁰. Ofgem committed to publishing guidance before implementation for generators and suppliers¹⁹. The community energy bodies have been critical of the resulting arrangement, in which export rates are set by suppliers rather than by a central tariff, arguing it gives community projects less dependable income than the feed-in tariff regime it replaced. The scheme nonetheless remains the official support for small scale renewable electricity generation⁶.

The bodies also respond jointly to consultations on the wider electricity system. On the Smart Secure Electricity Systems Programme's draft load control licence regulations, the consultation responses broadly supported the government's proposals²¹. The same pattern held for the consultation on delivering a smart and secure electricity system, where the consultation responses broadly supported the government's proposals²². For a group with its own export plans, the practical detail is at community energy export guarantee and behind-the-Meter systems.

How community groups can secure funding

Funding for community energy is devolved and fragmented, which is one reason the membership bodies matter: they track the rounds and eligibility rules. In Scotland, CARES provides advice and funding to communities looking to develop renewable energy, heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency projects, including shared ownership projects⁷. The Scottish Government has also made an additional £3 million available to support decarbonisation of Scotland's most remote and rural off-grid communities²³. In England, heating oil support funding is distributed by local authorities via the crisis and resilience fund²⁴.

Two recent changes opened significant pots to community groups. From 23 July 2026, community energy organisations in England, Scotland and Wales became eligible for all Energy Redress Funds including the Main Fund, around 75% of scheme funding, following lobbying by Community Energy England⁵. The London Community Energy Fund runs regional rounds: applications to the feasibility and delivery streams of its ninth round closed at 11:59pm on 30 September 2026, with a development stream due to open in October 2026²⁵.

For a group starting out, the sequence is usually: free advice first, then a feasibility grant, then delivery funding. The CARES network of development officers across Scotland provides free, expert and impartial advice and support to community groups, charities and other eligible organisations seeking to explore their renewable energy options⁷. The full funding landscape is covered at community energy funding.

The inquiry into community energy and its findings

Community energy reached the parliamentary agenda in November 2024, when the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee launched its inquiry⁴. The committee published its report on 17 June 2026 as the first report of Session 2026 to 27, making recommendations to the Government on community energy⁴. Two commitments stand out in the report: a community energy target of 8 GW by 2030, and GB Energy's commitment to support at least 1,000 local and community projects by 2030⁴.

The report lands in a policy context that is broadly favourable to local generation. The Climate Change Committee commissioned the Energy Saving Trust and Green Alliance to carry out research and analysis on policies introduced in other countries in response to the energy crisis²⁶. And in March 2026 the CCC stated that in all scenarios, achieving Net Zero was found to be a more cost-effective path for the UK economy than continued reliance on fossil fuels, bringing a net benefit to society²⁷.

For the membership bodies, the inquiry report is the strongest official validation of their case: a parliamentary committee has put a gigawatt-scale target and a delivery vehicle, GB Energy, on the record. What remains to be seen is how the recommendations are taken up. The Local Power Plan's community role is covered at local power plan.

Shared ownership and benefits for communities

Community benefits are the principle that people living near a renewable project should gain from it, and shared ownership is the stronger version: local people holding a stake in the generation asset itself. In Scotland this is embedded in official policy. CARES encourages community ownership of renewable energy projects across Scotland, helping to maximise the benefits of renewable energy systems and ensuring that the delivery of community energy comes with benefits for people in Scotland⁷.

In England and Wales the framework is still being built. On 21 May 2025 the Government published a working paper seeking views on introducing a mandatory community benefit fund scheme and facilitating shared ownership of renewable generation infrastructure²⁸. Solar Energy UK published its Community Engagement Good Practice Guidance in July 2025 for engagement with people local to solar farm developments²⁸. The Energy Saving Trust published its report on community renewable shared ownership in Scotland in September 2025²⁹.

Shared ownership is already working in practice. In June 2024, Hook Norton's community share raise sought £500,000 to complete sustainable homes with what is reported as the first UK community-level microgrid on a site of fewer than 30 homes³⁰. For a household, shared ownership is a way to hold a stake in generation without owning a roof: the mechanics are at community energy share offers and ripple energy.

What community groups gain from joining

Membership of a national body is not a funding source in itself; it is the infrastructure around funding, evidence and voice. Three things follow from it in practice.

• Eligibility routes. Community energy organisations in England, Scotland and Wales became eligible for the Ofgem redress scheme's Main Fund, around 75% of scheme funding, in July 2026⁵.
• Shared guidance. In 2025, Community Energy England published "Making it count: A guide to evidencing the impact of community energy", created via the Energy Learning Network, giving groups a common method for demonstrating what their projects achieve³¹.
• Collective voice. Joint consultation responses and the State of the Sector report give individual groups weight they cannot generate alone²¹.

Alongside membership, groups should know where free advice sits. In Scotland, the CARES development officer network provides free, expert and impartial advice⁷. In Cornwall, the local Winter Wellbeing service runs a Community Energy Plus advice line on 0800 954 1956 and at advice@cep.org.uk³². Groups should also be aware of the household support landscape their members may draw on: under the Warm Home Discount in England and Wales for 2025/26, households are eligible for the rebate if the person named on the energy bill receives the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, or receives a qualifying means-tested benefit³³.

The honest account of dependence is this: membership bodies, funding schemes and official advice networks are intermediaries, and a community group that relies on them alone is not independent. What they do is shorten the distance between a local idea and a working asset, and give the sector enough collective weight to win changes such as redress scheme eligibility. The comparison with going it alone is at community energy vs own solar.