No-one knows for sure how many community energy co-ops there are in the UK, but all the evidence suggests numbers are expanding rapidly. Ours is (so far) one of the smallest, with one of the lowest entry costs – just £20, when for many membership requires a minimum investment of £250.  The financial returns from these projects vary – the bigger ones, and especially those that started when FiT rates were higher than they are now, offer higher financial returns than we are likely to provide – though 3-4% still beats what you can get from the banks.

But financial return is not the only, or even the main reason for investing in co-ops like Power4KcC:

• It helps your community in very direct ways
• In the coming years as energy supplies get increasingly vulnerable, it may help make electricity provision more secure
• It helps village organisations save money
• It helps reduce the village’s carbon emissions – and the evidence that these are a major contributory factor to global warming is now overwhelming.