The search for an energy supply company “offering fairer bills for Londoners”, has moved a step closer with the announcement by London’s mayor of a £34 million package of measures.
In the latest phase of his Energy for Londoners programme, Sadiq Khan confirmed he would be seeking tenders for the service, part of what he described as “a number of ambitious projects to generate more local clean energy to power homes, businesses and communities” in the capital.
The mayor’s flagship vision includes a suite of projects in keeping with his aim to tackle fuel poverty and power the city with cleaner energy.
No further details about the supplier tender were given this week, however in a Huffington Post article in November Khan said people needed a better, fairer deal on their energy bills, and quickly, which was why he had started the process of setting up an energy company to do that in London.
“This a major problem in London with fewer people switching electricity supplier than in any other region in England. On top of this, it’s often the poorest households who are less likely to have a ‘good deal’, with the latest figures showing that around 40 per cent of those earning less than £16,000 never switch their energy provider.
“I want to move as fast as possible, so a formal selection process will be starting as early as January,” he said. “I’m not prepared to wait years for this to happen as people are unnecessarily suffering right now. So I’m pushing ahead with London’s first ever joined-up plan to tackle fuel poverty.”
Alongside launching a £2.5 million scheme to provide free home energy improvements worth up to £4,000 to those struggling to pay their bills, were plans for a fuel poverty partnership; incentives to make workplaces more energy efficient and initiatives to boost London’s business and domestic use of solar energy.
As the first public body to secure a junior electricity licence, City Hall is taking part in a 12-month pilot scheme which went live last month, to buy locally-generated, cleaner energy from Peabody Services and SSE to help power two busy Transport for London train depots – Northfields in Ealing and Northumberland Park in Haringey – which service Tube trains around the clock.
The Mayor is also helping with moves for a public and private partnership to build larger-scale heat networks which would include using local sources, such as waste heat from the Tube, through a £3.5 million decentralised energy enabling project.