http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/articles/i/5555/?cid=3

 

Renewable electricity supplier Good Energy has launched the UK's first local tariff for customers living near its Delabole wind farm in north Cornwall.

 

Those living within 2 km of the 9.2 MW wind farm will get a 20% discount on the company's standard electricity price, saving customers around £100 a year.

As well as the discount, which will be available from early next year, local customers will also receive a 'windfall' credit of £50 every year that the turbines exceed their expected performance.

"Good Energy is leading the UK wind industry with a new model ensuring that people who live near our wind farms share in their success," says CEO Juliet Davenport. "Wind power has a huge role to play in meeting the UK's future energy needs, and we think that it's only right that our local communities should be recognised for their contribution."

Davenport says that 68% of the local residents surveyed by Good Energy said they would consider switching to the supplier to benefit from the tariff.

Good Energy says its model could be replicated across the UK and will be offered at its other wind farms as they are developed. By 2016, the company aims to develop some 110 MW of renewable energy using various technologies.

The news bolsters other recent community renewables developments, including Westmill's 5 MW solar farm in Oxfordshire, which was vastly over-subscribed for its £4 million local share offer, and now the largest community-owned solar farm in the world.