The first opportunity to join was at the Horticultural Show and Fun day in August. Everyone over 16 who lives, works or owns land in the parish and supports our mission to reduce energy costs and the damage to our environment caused by energy generation, is welcome to join.  25 joined on the day and a similar number have joined since.

If you would like to join a membership form is here.

An Extraordinary General Meeting for members on September 22nd approved the appointment of David Skelton, Geoff Hardman and Peter Tulloch as directors, with David Skelton as Chair and Peter Tulloch as Company Secretary. Members also approved the opening of a bank account, insurance, our rules, the membership fee of £1 and the purchase of one share for £1. Other positions on the management committee were filled by the members proposing and unanimously voting for Sue Skelton as Treasurer, Astrid Fischer as Funding Co-ordinator, Alison Humphreys as Publicity Secretary and Kate Thomas as Membership Secretary.

More member volunteers are needed to help with PR, particularly anyone interested in FaceBook and/or Twitter. Plus a Planning Liaison will be needed and a Carbon Treasurer to record the savings made from parish projects.

It was agreed to hold monthly meetings for the time being, on the 1st Tuesday of the month, as new members come onboard and catch up with activity.

Next members meeting is October 6th at 7:30pm.

Minutes were approved from the meeting on August 27th and will be available on the SHARE page on the web site and posted on parish noticeboards.

You may have read in the news recently that the government is proposing to drastically cut Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs). FiTs were introduced with across party support to encourage the generation of electricity using renewable resources like wind, solar and hydro. In the early days, the payments were quite generous to kick-start a new industry but as costs have fallen, the payments have come down too. It is predicted that in a few years it would be possible to generate renewable energy from say, a roof mounted solar PV system economically, without a FiT payment. Compare this with the government’s promise to China and EDF that if they build the new reactor at Hinckley Point they will get a guarantee of a sale price for the electricity generated, more than twice what it is now. The government seem to think they will cut bills by £6, which is the cost of the FiT scheme to an average household. What they fail to recognise is the damage it will do to the renewable generation industry. Community energy groups will be particularly hard hit by this which is all wrong because established groups have demonstrated that they can significantly reduce bills for their communities. I’m going to try and meet our MP about this and anyone who wants to join me will be very welcome.

David Skelton
dave@pencashna.co.uk
01579 382397

Join South Hill Association for Renewable Energy…
Download the application form or email SHARE@south-hill.co.uk