Dear Heart of England Community Energy Shareholders and Bondholders
We hope you are keeping well and coping with the difficult times we are all sharing and enjoying the sun and wildlife when you can.
Energy Generation
Following a wet and stormy winter, the spring has been one of the driest on record, with April and May both breaking records. Whilst this adds to the ringing of climate alarm bells, generation in April and May were 18% and 29% respectively above the long-term average. February and March also exceeded projections leaving the year to date 20% ahead of the long-term average. This upside in generation is countered by a substantial drop in electricity prices due to the lockdown and the global oil price crash which started before the lockdown. Two of our solar farms (Poplars and Willows) benefit from a guaranteed price for electricity under the FiT Export Tariff. The other, (Leys) does not receive the Export Tariff. Instead, it sells power at market prices which are currently roughly half what they were a year ago. Since power sales provide approximately half its revenue (the rest coming from the Renewables Obligation subsidy), the impact of the reduced prices is less than first appears.
Bondholder and shareholder payments
The Board has approved the payment of 2020 bondholder and shareholder payments in accordance with the 2018 share and bond offer documents.
Bondholder interest was paid on 31st May for the period 1st May 2019 to 30th April 2020 at 5%.
Shareholder interest will be paid by 31st July for the period 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2019 at 6%.
Queries relating to your share or bond holding
Heart of England Community Energy’s Shareholder and Bondholder Register is administered by Ethex Registry. For any queries relating to certificates, interest and capital payments, holdings, probate matters or withdrawals, please contact Ethex Registry directly: registry@ethex.org.uk or phone 01865 403304
AGM
Heart of England Community Energy’s AGM will be held at 19:30 on Weds 24th June via a Zoom online meeting to discuss the agenda below:
2. Heart of England Community Energy update:
a. Performance of our solar farms
b. Payment of share and bond interest
c. Community projects supported
d. Future bond offer plans
3. Resolutions/ Extraordinary Resolutions:
a. To present Heart of England Community Energy accounts for the year ending 31st December 2019.
b. To delegate to the directors the authority to appoint auditors
c. To elect the board of directors
4. Guest speaker Beth Nicholson of Citizens Advice South Warwickshire will give a short presentation about their work.
5. AOB
6. Close
Heart of England Community Energy’s consolidated audited accounts will be available on our website shortly: www.hecommunityenergy.org/resources
If you would like to attend the AGM please register via the Eventbrite link below. Once registered you will be emailed a link to the Zoom meeting.
Helping to alleviate hardship caused by the Covid 19 emergency
Heart of England Community Energy learned that Citizens Advice South Warwickshire has experienced a big increase in demand from people in difficult circumstances caused by the Covid 19 lockdown. Citizens Advice South Warwickshire was limited in its ability to help reduce this hardship by a shortage of Administrator time. The Board therefore allocated funds to pay for an extra day per week of administrator time so that help can be given to more people who find themselves in hardship
The expectation is that many more food parcels will be made available as a result of the funding provided and assistance can also include provision of bed linen for people coming out of hospital and washing machines for new single parents.
We’ll be letting you know what this funding has achieved in a later newsletter.
Local News
Despite the Corona virus lock-down, activity on solving the ”Climate Problem” continues amongst Stratford local pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth and Stratford Climate Action. Two of HECE’s directors are members of these groups. Two very interesting discussions were held using the online Zoom meetings app - not quite as good as being in the same room but not bad. The discussions focused on a book “The Case for the Green New Deal by Anne Pettifor”.
In the book Pettifor says that we can and must change what we do in the short period of time we have left to avert Climate Breakdown. Such a change sounds impossible, but the book points out that rapid change has happened before so it can happen again. Examples of rapid change mentioned are the large reduction in smoking despite opposition from the tobacco companies and the explosion of the internet as a radical change in the way we communicate. Also, the “New Deal” in 1930’s USA which, by means of massive government spending, brought about recovery from the depression.
The discussion group concluded that the Covid 19 pandemic emergency has shown that the government can find the money to tackle emergencies. If there is any bigger emergency than this it is the climate emergency.
To quote Anne Pettifor, “But how is this extraordinary programme to be achieved? A first in the many steps that must be taken if we are to harness the latent power of people is to spread public understanding. People cannot act to transform that which they do not understand.”