Bankrupt Council To Fund Lightbox Energy Bill

Published on: 17 Jun, 2026
Updated on: 17 Jun, 2026

The Lightbox in Woking.

By Chris Caulfield

local democracy reporter

The Lightbox is set to receive £131,000 from Woking Borough Council to help offset the shock of rising energy bills – after it was discovered the “fabulous” cultural hub had been undercharged for years.

The soon to be council-owned Thameswey Energy, set to be taken over in a debt for equity swap, provides heating, cooling, hot water and electricity.

On January 2026, new regulations came into force covering the previously unregulated heat network.

These effectively force firms to have fair and transparent tariff structures and resulted its first pricing review in “many years”, papers presented to Woking Borough Council’s June Executive show.

It concluded the tariffs were “under-recovering against costs” and “loss making”.

Now the council, itself bankrupt on the back of years of failing investments in firms including Thameswey Energy, is set pay for this oversight to the tune of £131,000 over the next two years – to give the Lightbox a runway before it has to find the funding itself.

Cllr Dale Roberts

Cllr Dale Roberts (Lib Dem, St John’s), portfolio holder for Finance, told the meeting: “The question before is not simply whether those pressures may arise, but whether it is in the council’s interest to provide a period of support while the Lightbox adapts to those changes.”

Officers assessed the potential implications on the council should the Lightbox, which occupies a council-owned building, become financially unsustainable.

Cllr Roberts added: “Those implications extend beyond the future of that organisation itself and include financial, operational and property related risks that could ultimately fallback upon this council.

“What we have done here is work that was long overdue.

“The arrangements, in terms of energy and its customers, were not appropriately formulated or consistent.”

Cllr Ellen Nicholson

The money, he said, was targeted, tapering and time limited to give the Lightbox the time to adjust and develop its own sustainable long-term operating model.

Cllr Ellen Nicholson (Lib Dem, Mount Hermon), portfolio holder for Leisure, said it was sensible to support the Lightbox due to energy costs.

She added: “The Lightbox is such a fabulous cultural organisation within Woking.