House of Commons Briefing Paper "Brexit: Energy and Climate Change

A recent House of Commons Library report highlighted the current position regarding our relationship with the EU and the fact that it has led to uncertainty in terms of climate change, energy and related topics. The ongoing negotiations, the fact that no one has left the EU before so no-one knows the consequences and continuing international political issues alongside changes in the energy market mean we don’t know what prices and security of supply will look like at any point in the future.

We at APSE Energy have regularly promoted the idea of breaking the link with energy inflation and of being entirely dependent on others to supply energy. Not all councils can achieve this of course but many are able to do so. Generation and self-supply is certainly an approach which reduces reliance on other suppliers and so reduces risk as well as reducing cost. A significant element of our energy comes from EU members and there is potential for disruption to supply and for increases in cost as a result of outcomes of negotiations over our withdrawal from the EU.

We would encourage all local authorities to evaluate their assets with energy generation in mind. Solar farms are an obvious technology to employ on land and water assets and on roofs.