Royal Assent was received for a Government supported Private Member’s Bill that will make it easier for householders who produce electricity from microgeneration technologies at their homes to sell unused power back to their supplier.

Mark Lazarowicz’s Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Bill aims to reduce carbon emissions and fuel poverty through a series of measures designed to increase installation of micro-wind turbines, solar panels and other localised energy production technologies.

The minister for energy Malcolm Wicks welcomed the Bill on to the statute books during a speech at the Renewable Energy Association’s annual conference in London.

Mr Wicks said: “The ability to produce clean, green energy from homes or businesses can help to lessen our carbon emissions and bring down fuel bills.

“We, as individuals, must make a contribution to the fight against climate change, as we can’t just expect big institutions or governments to solve the problem for us, we all have to make a difference.

“A micro wind turbine will be installed on my own home shortly and I would like to see local level and community energy production like this becoming more commonplace. This will allow us get back in touch with where our power comes from and understand more about how much we are using or abusing. ”

The Act will make it easier for excess energy to be sold back to the utilities by encouraging energy companies to establish schemes that reward smaller scale generators for their exported power. This is a key plank of the DTI’s recently published microgeneration strategy and is now legally underpinned by the bill’s passage through the house.

Opening up the ability to earn money for the sale of electricity produced by these technologies will help to offset the cost of installation and play a part in the expansion of the sector, bringing both environmental and economic benefits.

Other measures in the Act will make it easier for small generators to receive the financial benefits of renewable obligation certificates - the Government’s mechanism for the expansion or renewable energy production.

It is also important to support microgeneration technologies that produce heat. These will now benefit from sections in the bill that call for the greater promotion of local level heat and power projects and a clause calling on community and parish councils to encourage energy saving measures in their area.

A further provision added by the Government will help to open up the development of renewable energy projects on the Scottish islands by extending to 2024 a cap on electricity transmission charges. Without this potential cap the cost of connecting to the Scottish mainland could prove prohibitively expensive.

With the bill now becoming an Act of Parliament the DTI will continue its work with the microgeneration industry, Ofgem, local Government organizations and other government departments to promote microgeneration. The objective is to create a realistic alternative or supplementary energy generation source for householders, communities and small businesses across the country.