Stingy governor in church, economical about energy (12)
I believe the answer is:
cheeseparing
'stingy' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'governor in church economical about energy' is the wordplay.
'governor in church' becomes 'chee' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'economical' becomes 'sparing' (synonyms).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mch).
'sparing' going around 'e' is 'separing'.
'chee'+'separing'='CHEESEPARING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cheeseparing that I've seen before include "parsimonious behaviour" , "Mean with money" , "Close" , "Stinginess" , "Penny-pinching" .)