Thank you for contacting me about co-operatively owned wind farms and the proposed revenue cap on electricity generators.

As you know, the Government has put forward plans for a “Cost-Plus Revenue Limit” to enable consumers to pay a fair amount for their electricity and ensure electricity generators are not unduly profiting from the energy crisis caused in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

I welcome that the Government has finally accepted the principle of implementing a windfall tax on excess profits of electricity generators. However their delay in acting on this will have cost billions and the public will still be left to pay the price.

At the same time, the devil is in the detail of how this proposal is implemented. I appreciate the particular concerns you raise about the potential inclusion in the revenue cap of co-operatively owned wind farms.

Community-owned wind farms with large numbers of shareholders and whose purpose is not to make profits but to keep bills down by paying dividends should clearly not be treated in the same way as other electricity generators making super-profits.

I therefore welcome that the Government was pressed on this issue during proceedings on the Energy Prices Bill in the House of Commons. Following this pressure, the Government Minister committed to defining which electricity generators will be subject to the revenue cap in regulations, to ensure that it only targets the generators it is intended to.

I can assure you that I will continue to monitor this issue and support efforts to press the Government on it if it fails to address the concerns raised.

More broadly I am really proud the Labour Party has a policy for a Green Economic Recovery, with £30 billion in planned capital investment brought forward as part of a rapid stimulus package to support up to 400,000 new, clean jobs in manufacturing and other key sectors. This will work to accelerate investment in clean projects such as energy efficiency, flood prevention, offshore wind, cycling and walking infrastructure and the electric vehicle charging network would help to create secure, stable employment in every corner of the country right now.

We have committed to achieving 100% clean power by 2030, establishing a publicly owned British Energy Company, ending 90% of sewage discharges by 2030 and quadrupling our offshore wind capacity by 2030 to name a few.

We have an opportunity to be the leading light on tackling climate change, by introducing bold and forward thinking green policies.

It is therefore vital that we reach an international agreement on a managed and fair phase out of fossil fuels across the globe. Unfortunately, I believe that plans such as the development of the Cambo and Rosebank oil field will instead undermine the effort to foster international action on this issue. Seeking to drill for more oil and gas simply sends the message that the Government does not take the climate emergency seriously and has not accepted the urgent need to phase out fossil fuel production.