SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy
What does the data show?
Electricity consumption
Overall, Bristol is improving across most indicators for SDG 7. The city’s total electricity consumption and average domestic electricity consumption both declined between 2015 and 2019 by 4 ktoe (kilotonnes of oil equivalent) and 3 ktoe respectively, despite a growing population.
Bristol’s electricity consumption is consistently lower than the national average. Installed capacity of renewable energy in Bristol has increased significantly, rising from 79.6 MW in 2015 to 129.207 MW in 2020.
Generation of installed renewable energy increased from 156,878 MWh to 174,056 MWh over the same period. However, the rates of fuel poverty in Bristol are also increasing.
SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy
Bristol’s total electricity consumption and average domestic electricity consumption both declined between 2015 and 2019, and is consistently lower than the national average.
However, the rates of fuel poverty in the city are increasing.
Fuel poverty
The proportion of households in Bristol that are fuel poor rose from a low of 9.8% in 2018 to 14.4% in 2020, higher than the national average of 13.2%. There was a change of methodology between 2018 and 2019, but even accounting for this fuel poverty is growing. light of the cost of living crisis, with average energy bills predicted to reach as much as £4,000 per annum, fuel poverty is likely to become an increasingly pressing issue in Bristol.
What Bristol is doing
Action plans
Bristol’s Fuel Poverty Action Plan was created after the One City Plan declared that reducing fuel poverty to be a key ambition. Established by the No Cold Homes steering group, which includes Bristol City Council alongside other organisations, the Plan takes a partnership approach, suggesting measures to reduce fuel poverty such as energy efficiency retrofitting, providing subsidy packages for low-carbon heating technologies, and offering advice services. The aim of this plan is that by 2030 no one in Bristol will have a cold home as a result of fuel poverty.
Working with partners
The Warmer Homes, Advice & Money (WHAM) project was set up in 2017. A collaboration between several partners, it provides advice to low-income households on how to monitor and pay energy bills, tips for reducing energy use, and grants for heating repairs and upgrades. WHAM is funded by Bristol City Council, and since 2019, the project has supported 1,329 individuals.
Ambition Lawrence Weston, a local community organisation, has begun work on the UK’s tallest onshore wind turbine. Working with Bristol City Council and Bristol City Funds, the community will be able to provide cheaper energy to local residents, tackle fuel poverty in the community, set up a renewable-energy skills training centre and generate hundreds of thousands of pounds for community projects.
Community-owned Bristol Energy Cooperative (BEC) develops green energy projects funded by investor-members. BEC now has 13 solar installations, two ground-mounted solar farms and a grid-servicing battery installed on a housing development. These projects have an annual output of 9,436 MWh, enough to power over 3,000 homes. The Cooperative is also working to develop a community-owned urban hydroelectric scheme at Netham Weir which will provide power for a further 250 homes.
The City is also decarbonising its energy infrastructure through the City Leap partnership. There is further information about this in SDG9: Industry, infrastructure and innovation.