Barnet Council will benefit from the waiving of November’s planned £974,000 charge
By Josh Mellor, Local Democracy Reporter

Edmonton incinerator (Credit - LDRS) — Edmonton incinerator (Credit – LDRS)

Millions in bumper profits from the Edmonton Incinerator are set to be handed back to the seven north London councils whose rubbish it burns.

The incinerator, which burns rubbish from Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest to produce electricity, is run by the North London Waste Authority (NLWA).

This year, the NLWA was set to charge the councils a £57million levy to cover the costs of processing their waste but plans to waive November’s £4.7m charge thanks to the soaring cost of electricity.

The authority says its “windfall dividend” for the councils that own it is also thanks to “strong market demand” for recycling waste it collects, such as aluminium and plastic.

Waltham Forest deputy leader and NLWA chair Clyde Loakes said: “During this extreme cost-of-living crisis and rising inflation, we’ve decided to act now to return this money to the public by helping to ease the monetary pressures on their local councils and their services.

“Wholesale energy prices are expected to remain high over the winter, and if that is the case there will be further ‘windfall dividends’ to come.

“This shows that the public ownership of utilities can bring direct benefits to communities, instead of just the shareholders of the big energy companies.”

The incinerator, built in 1971, burnt more than 500,000 tonnes of waste last year and produced electricity for the equivalent of 80,000 homes.

The levies the NLWA charges the seven councils are expected to rise in coming years due to the £1.2bn cost of building the Edmonton EcoPark, which includes a controversial new incinerator and a large new waste processing facility.

The levy to London’s increasingly cash-strapped councils is expected to rise to £66m next year and reach £90m in 2025/26.

The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) is the second-largest waste disposal authority in the country by volume of waste and serves more than two million residents.

The authority is run by councillors from Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest.

The cost of the levy to each authority varies depending on the service it provides to each of those boroughs.

In November, Waltham Forest was due to pay £841,000, Barnet £974,000 and Hackney £601,000.

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