Speeches by Crichton.

“This is just a quick question on how to mandate community powers. Is it the 2015 Act? Is it something else, Alex? What do we need to tell Ministers to do?”

“Thank you all for coming in. Everyone nodded along and said that community energy was a great idea. Community energy companies have terrible, hellish problems getting on to the grid. Mark, you said that SSEN thought that communities had a big role to play, yet SSEN fobbed them off with active network management agreeme…”

“Who sets that—Ofgem or NESO?”

“Ofgem are agnostic. I come from a part of the world where you cannot be agnostic. You have to be a disciple for renewable energy. What would it take to make Ofgem a disciple for renewable energy? As Finley said, it is a really competitive space.”

“Matt, what would your advice be to Ministers when it comes to prioritising connections?”

“The Minister would have to tell you whether he or she wants community energy prioritised.”

“Even if that was at your expense, Finley, would you support it?”

“Sarah, you touched on what could be a definition of priorities and how to calibrate them. Can you expand on that?”

“GB Energy has its community energy in a box idea. Mark, if I understand your evidence correctly, if the Minister tells NESO to tell Ofgem to tell you to connect a community energy company instead of EDF, that is what you would do.”

“Thanks, all, for coming in. Finley, if we can carry on about community benefit, and offshore and onshore, there is a huge difference, of course, between a wind farm in Skye and one in the North sea, particularly in defining which community benefits. On our Atlantic coast, we have Spiorad na Mara, which has already agre…”

“Yes. There is a difference between community benefit and community share, or community ownership, and you have operated that model onshore. Could you operate that model of municipalities or communities buying in offshore as well?”

“Would mandatory community benefit or community share affect the viability of the developments?”

“Yes, when I talk about community, I do not want a forest path. I want to change people’s health outcomes and where they go to university. I want to change their lives with renewable energy, not just give them forest paths.”

“I did not give you a chance to answer that £5,000 per megawatt per year question. That was said over a decade ago. It is not really transformative, is it?”

“I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Jamie Stone) for organising this debate—he is as much an institution as the Scottish Parliament itself. My hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray) speaks about the Scottish Parliament being the heartbeat of Scot…”

“Does the Secretary of State agree with me that the Conservatives have got a cheek? Some 77,000 jobs drifted out of the North sea under their Government, and they did not lift a finger. This Government, along with the Scottish Government, invested £18 million in a transition fund to help oil and gas workers move into en…”

“I pay tribute to the hon. Member for securing the debate. I gently remind him that there is an alternative to opposition: participation. In the Western Isles we have the highest level of community-owned wind farms in Britain: 22 MW, alleviating fuel poverty and powering community economics. Our council is ready to take…”

“It works or it does not work.”

“David—as well as everyone else—the smart meter roll‑out has been pushed back. Is there any point in even thinking about mandatory smart meters if smart meters are installed but just do not work?”

“You hit on it there. Common to every question has been getting bills down and reducing the cost to consumers, but you guys are sitting there making more money than Scotland spends on education each year. Chris, your profits were £1.6 billion last year. EDF made £3 billion profit before taxes. ScottishPower is sitting m…”