Norfolk councils urged to cut deals with TotalEnergies over Russian investments
- Published
Norfolk County Council has struck a new deal to ensure TotalEnergies continues to supply it with gas until 2027
Norfolk councils have been urged to sever their links with an energy supplier which has refused to divest from its operations in Russia.
Some £14.8m of Norfolk taxpayers' money is tied up in contracts with French multinational TotalEnergies.
Six Norfolk authorities have deals with the firm to provide gas and electricity to council facilities including homes, schools and offices.
Councils said the links to the energy company were now under review.
The contracts are currently held by TotalEnergies with Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council, Broadland District Council, Breckland Council, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, and the Borough Council of King's Lynn & West Norfolk.
Opposition politicians have urged councils to end their contracts with the firm, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Brian Watkins, Liberal Democrat group leader at County Hall, said: "Through these contracts we are subsidising Russia off the back of the blood of Ukrainians.
"And we should be doing all that we can to put the pressure on, so the war can be stopped."
TotalEnergies said it "condemns" Russia's military aggression against Ukraine but it was not going to halt operations there
The largest of the contracts is with Norfolk County Council, worth £7.4m to TotalEnergies in the past calendar year.
Last year, the authority struck a new deal to ensure the firm continued to supply it with gas until 2027.
Andrew Jamieson, the Conservative-run council's cabinet member for finance, said it would be impossible to pull out of the deal.
"Section 17 of the Local Government Act 1988 prohibits us from terminating these contracts on the basis of Total's business interests in Russia," he said.
A spokeswoman for Norwich City Council said: "As a council, we welcome TotalEnergies' condemnation for the Russian actions in Ukraine and its decision not to fund new capital investment in the country.
"We will be reviewing our position in light of its feedback."
North Norfolk District Council and South Norfolk Council both confirmed they did not have contracts with TotalEnergies.
The energy firm, which is based in France, is considered to be one of the world's "supermajor" oil companies.
TotalEnergies said it "condemns" Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and has suspended trading Russian oil.
But it said it was under no pressure from the French government to quit Russia because natural gas was currently exempt from sanctions.
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