Annual General Meetings

BWCE’s 2017 AGM was held on the evening of the 27th September, at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI) in Queen Square in Bath. Over 50 members, bondholders and interested observers attended.

A complete report will be published later – in the meantime the edited highlights…

6% interest agreed for members
£30,000 allocated to the Community Fund

Jon Bateman re-elected as non-executive director
Jolyon Orchard elected as non-executive director
Sonya Bedford co-opted as director

Presentations from the AGM can be downloaded here and a more detailed report on project performance in the past year can be seen here.

The papers for the AGM can be downloaded below:

• Notice of AGM and agenda
• BWCE 2017 Annual report and consolidated accounts
• Financial report to members and proposal for member and community fund payments
• BWCE Business Plan Overview to March 2021

BWCE Board elections

The board elections were completed at the meeting. Those unable to make the meeting were able to vote electronically in advance.  Votes were also collected via paper ballots brought to the meeting. Jon Bateman was re-elected together with Jolyon Orchard. As a result of the election this year the board is back up to its full complement of 5 non-executive directors.

Jane Stephenson is moving from being an elected non-executive director to an executive chair and so won’t be standing for re-election.

We are particularly pleased to be welcoming Sonya Bedford, who will be joining the board as a co-opted director after the AGM. Sonya heads up the renewable energy team at lawyers Stephens Scown.

Click here for BWCE’s role brief for non-executive directors. For context on the priorities facing BWCE’s board, you may like to see here BWCE’s draft Business Plan Overview, which we will present to the September AGM.

Directors of BWCE are responsible for the financial wellbeing of the organisation and its strategic direction. For further information click here to see a fact sheet on director responsibilities produced by Coops UK.

The AGM was held on Thursday 29 September at BRLSI it was attended by over 100 people, mainly members and bondholders with a small number of partners and interested parties.

WELCOME & REVIEW OF 2015/16
The meeting opened with the chair Pete Capener outlining BWCE’s major achievements over the financial year 2015/16, the challenges currently faced and our goals for 2016/17. A summary of this overview can be seen here.

AGM BUSINESS

Board Changes
In order to create additional resource to enable BWCE to deliver its work programme, Pete Capener announced Jane Stephenson was taking on the role of Chair, thereby enabling Pete to focus more on delivery as Executive Director. Jane is a long-standing non-executive director.

Mike Bess was re-elected unopposed as a non-executive director. David Bunker and Chris Crookall-Fallon have stepped down from the board as the Mongoose Energy representatives. Nick Johanson will be the new Mongoose Energy nominee on the board. David and Chris were thanked for their significant contribution to BWCE’s success over the years.

Details of the all the BWCE directors can be found here

Finances
Peter Capener summarised the financial results for the year ended March 2016 and referred to the audited accounts previously circulated to Members. These showed total recognised gains for the year after taking into account the revaluation of fixed assets of £124,359. Shareholders’ Funds are shown in the Balance Sheet at £5,136,249 and the group has Fixed Assets under management of £9,741,019.

The accounts were adopted by members. See here for the accounts and here for background and summary of BWCE finances.

Members were reminded that for those interested in an in-depth discussion around BWCE’s finances, we will be holding a special meeting on 2^nd November at 7.00pm. If you wish to attend this meeting please contact Pete Capener as soon as possible on [email protected]

The proposals for interest payments to members (7%) and payments to BWCE’s community fund were approved by members. See here for details. Notice of interest payments will go out to members over the next few weeks.

There would this year be the facility for members, should they wish, to donate some or all of their interest in favour of the community fund.

BWCE Fund
The BWCE Fund is the independent charity that distributes the surplus generated by BWCE. In the year 2015/16, £45,000 was distributed to low carbon and fuel poverty projects. Peter Harvey the chair then introduced Nigel Gerdes from Climate Friendly Bradford on Avon and Janet Dabbs (in the photo) from Age UK (B&NES) who gave brief snapshots of how they spent the grants they received. Details of these and the other grants can be found here.

Following the approval of this year’s payment to the fund, Peter Harvey announced that the 2017 grant programme worth £30,000 for projects in the Bath and surrounding area was open for applications. More details of how to apply for grants can be found here.

Rule Changes
The proposed changes to BWCE’s rules, relating to issuing different classes of shares, were approved (subject to a minor clarification). Background to the rule changes can be seen here and the revised rules can be found here.

THE FUTURE

Mongoose Energy and Energy Supply
It has always been part of BWCE’s vision that ultimately the energy we generate will be sold back to our members and others in and around our area. This was one of the main reasons that BWCE started and retains a stake in Mongoose Energy to make this vision a reality. This first stage has been to collaborate with Mongoose Energy in putting together an energy supply offer.

Adam Walton of Mongoose Energy then gave a presentation outlining the next steps towards this vision. Mongoose Energy now have all the contracts and team in place to go to Controlled Market Entry (CME) later this year. During CME, 250 people will become the first customers of Mongoose Energy so that systems can be proved prior to full launch early in 2017. Places have been reserved for 30 BWCE members to be part of the first wave of members of this radical and ground-breaking energy offer. The Mongoose website will be updated with more details next week. BWCE members can visit www.mongoose.energy from 17 October to register their interest in becoming a customer.

BWCE’s Business Planning
BWCE director Jeff Kenna set out some ideas for the future direction of BWCE. He pointed out that our vision had not changed significantly since we were founded and included, energy generation, supply and demand reduction. Increasingly we have more opportunities to further these goals as new technologies come to market, for example battery storage.

But we have key questions to face around the level of ambition we have in terms of pursuing our vision, which technologies do we seek to develop and implement in the future and how do we reach out and engage a far wider proportion of the communities that we work in.

An outline plan for the next 3-5 years is being prepared for the board to review. There would then be a members’ meeting in early 2017 so that members could have their say, with the final plan being adopted later in the year.

AGM PAPERS

The following key papers for the AGM can be found at the links below:

• AGM notice and agenda
• Background to proposed rule change
• Copy of BWCE rules with changed rules highlighted in red
• Briefing on payment of member interest and community fund for 2015-2016
• Draft annual accounts for 2015-2016
• Background to BWCE finances and financial summary

The board will be adopting a ‘share withdrawals’ policy soon after the AGM. A draft of that policy is included with the AGM papers for your information, here. Whilst not strictly an AGM agenda item, as ever we are interested in the views of our members and will consider any comments within the drafting of the final policy document.

Our AGM was held on 25 July 2015 with nearly 100 members present.

There were 2 vacancies for non-executive directors to the board of Bath & West Community Energy to be filled at this years AGM with 5 candidates, any of whom would have done a superb job. In the end Jane Laurie and Pam Penkman were elected.

Other highlights include:

• The announcement of a 7% interest payment to members for the fourth year running
• £50,000 to be allocated to the Community Fund an increase of over 100% on last years allocation, of which £45,000 will be allocated to projects in the coming year
• The resolution for the change in the BWCE rules, as outlined below, was approved with over 50% of members voting.

A summary of the 2014/2015 year and the accounts can be found by following the links below:
BWCE Board report 2014-2015
Final Draft BWCE Accounts 2014-2015

The agenda, papers for the non-executive director election, accounts and resolutions can be viewed by following the links below.

BWCE AGM Agenda 2015
Non Executive Director Candidate Statements
Non Executive Director ballot paper
New Rules Resolution Online Ballot
New BWCE rules as adopted and approved by the FCA following AGM
Background to change in BWCE rules

This year’s AGM was held in the impressive Hartham Park, site of one of our ground mounted solar arrays. Despite the heavens opening and threatening to flood the approach road to Hartham Park, the AGM went ahead and was attended by nearly 20% of our membership. Of course the sun came out later, so some people were able to visit our 250 kW array too.

Good news
All the motions proposed were accepted, which means that for a third year running we will be paying 7% interest to our members. This money should be paid direct to your accounts by early October, so if you’ve changed your bank account, now would be a really good time to tell us.

More good news
A £15,000 payment to the newly formed, independent charity Bath and West Low Carbon Community Fund was agreed. If you add that to the £8,700 we already have allocated from last year’s grant and the generous donations of some our members, it means that we will be able to make £20,000 available later this year for grants to community projects wanting to address carbon reduction or fuel poverty.

Welcome, Welcome back and sadly Goodbye
As well as the annual update from Jeff on progress last year and our substantial plans for next year, followed by a succinct review of the accounts by David, we also had the results of our annual elections for non executive directors. This year Jane Stephenson was re-elected and we welcome a new director, Jon Bateman to the board. Jon is a semi retired civil engineer and active within the community sector. We do however have to say goodbye to Adam Walton as he stands down from the board having been involved in BWCE since the early days. Adam has given a significant amount to BWCE and the whole board and I am sure all our members would like to thank him for his contribution to our success.

Member feedback
The AGM also included some very interesting, useful and enthusiastic discussions with members. This has provided some excellent feedback to the team, including ideas for future projects, thoughts about our approach to project development and ideas for active member communication and involvement, among many other things.

Finally
From the board’s perspective it was great to see the level of engagement and a growing sense of ownership amongst the membership. And very heartening to hear one member saying that they were ‘so impressed with the way that you have developed such a professional organisation but managed to keep such a friendly, community feel as well’ – Praise indeed.

BWCE’s AGM took take place on 3rd July 2013 at St Swithin’s, The Paragon, Bath BA1 5LY

Just under 100 members and guests attended the AGM in the fine venue of St Swithin’s. Jonathan Porritt, the well-known environmental campaigner, gave the keynote speech.

MD Jeff Kenna outlined the achievements and problems that faced us last year and a flavour of what is in store for next. David Bunker our Financial Director had a gallop through the financial results. Lots of intelligent questions were asked and 4 resolutions were voted on – all carried by a large majority.

1. That the accounts of Bath & West Community Energy were approved
2. The proposed payment of 7% interest to members on their investment for the period April 2012 to March 2013 was approved
3. The proposed payment of £4,800 to the community fund was approved
4. The auditors, Monahans of 3 Pierrepont Street, Bath, BA1 1LB, were re-appointed

A new Non-executive director Mike Bess was elected by the members