NLWA councils to receive £10.2m ‘windfall’ from EfW plant

NLWA said that its members approved issuing the windfall worth £10.2 million to the boroughs at an authority meeting yesterday, 9 February.

The waste authority explained that the windfall is due to extra income from the sale of electricity generated at the publicly owned Edmonton energy from waste (EfW) plant that the NLWA oversees. This windfall follows a previous dividend of £4.75 million in November (see letsrecycle.com story).

NLWA manages waste on behalf of seven North London councils, including Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest.

Increased income

NLWA outlined that the windfall is only possible because the facility is wholly publicly owned. It reasoned that as a result of the rise in energy prices, energy generators including the Edmonton plant saw their income rise “dramatically” in 2022.

Strong market demand for recycled commodities has also contributed to the increase in NLWA’s income as it sells recycling collected across North London, the authority added.

As a result, NLWA said it will reduce the monthly cost of waste disposal and recycling that the councils usually pay across the financial year 2023/24.

NLWA Chair, Councillor Clyde Loakes, said: “While we all want to see energy prices normalise, in these exceptional times, rather than windfall profits going to private shareholders, NLWA can ensure that local people and communities can benefit instead. It also shows that having a wholly publicly owned, well managed facility is far preferable to paying vast sums to a private contractor to dispose of household waste.”

Government levy

NLWA noted that the government’s new electricity generator levy effective from 1 January, which includes EfW plants, is “likely to curtail future dividends to the boroughs from the Edmonton plant if energy prices remain unusually high during and after 2024”.

Therefore, the authority called for publicly owned EfW facilities excluded from the tax so that local facilities can continue to directly benefit local residents and their communities.

Edmonton plant

The Edmonton facility has used household bin-bag waste to generate electricity for the national grid instead of sending it to landfill since 1971, according to NLWA.

Cllr Loakes continued that NLWA are overseeing the building of a replacement facility, which will generate electricity as well as produce heat for local households. The new facility is expected to be ready in 2026 (see letsrecycle.com story).