Department for Energy Security & Net Zero

Under its licence, the Data Communications Company (DCC) is obligated to provide Wide Area Network (WAN) coverage to at least 99.5% of premises across its ‘North’ region.

DCC's work on its Future Connectivity strategy includes consideration of a full range of technical solutions including cellular options.

The Department is introducing heat network regulation in January 2026 which aims to provide consumers with comparable protections to existing gas and electricity regulations.

Ofgem will be appointed heat network regulator, and they will administer the Market Framework which will introduce consumer protections and a licensing regime for operators. Ofgem’s powers will include the ability to investigate unfair pricing and ensure that consumers’ heat supply is maintained if their supplier goes out of business.

Regulatory oversight will be supplemented by statutory redress through the Energy Ombudsman who will have the same powers to hear complaints and make legally binding decisions as they do in gas and electricity markets. Citizens Advice and Consumer Scotland will also be empowered to provide advice and advocacy on behalf of heat network consumers.

Heat network suppliers commercially contract for the fuel that powers heat networks and so they are not subject to the domestic energy price cap.

The Government is however, introducing heat network regulation in January 2026 which aims to provide consumers with comparable protections to existing gas and electricity regulations.

The heat network regulator, Ofgem, will have powers to investigate and intervene where heat network prices charged to consumers appear to be disproportionate or unfair.

Regulatory oversight will be supplemented by statutory redress through the Energy Ombudsman who will have the same powers to hear complaints and make legally binding decisions as they do in gas and electricity markets.

The Government recognises that too many households across GB are currently unable to send automatic readings to their energy suppliers, including meters without access to WAN coverage. We will set out new plans to improve the rollout and the consumer experience, alongside Ofgem, in due course.

Minimum energy efficiency standards in non-domestic buildings have improved energy efficiency and Government has consulted on strengthening them. We will publish our government response early next year. In addition, our Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme requires large businesses to undertake energy audits and encourages improvements.

There are also incentives to decarbonise with grants to small businesses through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund offers up to £500 million to support existing firms to decarbonise and grow, with the government recently confirming £163 million in phase 3 funding to invest by 2028. More detail on the Government’s approach to decarbonising non-domestic buildings, including through the Warm Homes Plan, will be published in due course.

Ministers are considering options to reduce embodied emissions in industry by growing the demand for construction materials such as low carbon steel, cement and concrete. This includes resolving questions such as how embodied emissions in products are measured.

The Government will consult on options for answering these questions in due course.

The Government has established a Circular Economy Taskforce to support the efficient use of construction materials to reduce embodied carbon. Alongside this, Government continues to collaborate with industry groups to promote the efficient, circular use of construction materials, supporting research to enable this.

The number of members of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme in the constituencies and in Wales is as follows:

(a) Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe constituency - 151

(b) Neath and Swansea East constituency – 172

(c) Aberafan Maesteg constituency – 131

(d) Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare constituency - 376, and

(e) Wales – 4,048.

This information is from the scheme trustees and correct as at 30 October 2024. Some of these scheme members will not yet be in receipt of their pension, but we do not have a breakdown of that information at constituency level.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 November to Question UIN 12551.

Socio-economic welfare is a standard economic tool that aims to identify how much better off the country would be if an improvement is made by tracing the effects on the economy. In this regard, Ofgem uses the same definitions of welfare as used in other areas of government.

The Government has made no such specific assessment, as tariffs and energy contracts are a commercial matter for suppliers. However, the Government does want consumers to have access to a range of tariffs, so they can choose the contract that best suits their needs and can help to reduce energy bills. In circumstances where a supplier may not currently be able to offer a smart meter, Ofgem has been clear that suppliers are obligated under their licence conditions to ensure that a suitable metering system is installed.

The Warm Homes Plan will be rolled out in partnership with local authorities, combined authorities and devolved governments. As a first step, the government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency.

At Autumn Budget, the government introduced the first integrated settlements with Greater Manchester Combined Authority and West Midlands Combined Authority, which include piloting the devolution of retrofit funding from 2025-26.

The upcoming English Devolution White Paper (due for publication in late 2024) will provide more detail on the government’s devolution plans, setting out an ambitious new framework for English devolution, moving power out of Westminster and back to those who know their areas best. It will give deeper powers for existing mayors as well as for new areas, including over house building and planning, as well as transport and skills.

DESNZ and two of its 17 Agencies and Public Bodies (Ofgem and the Committee on Climate Change) are currently in a national trade dispute with PCS on pay, pensions, and jobs. PCS has not taken any action in relation to this dispute and DESNZ is working to resolve the dispute through its ongoing engagement with PCS, and via the annual pay discussions. Contractors supplying services to the Department are not employees of DESNZ. Any dispute relating to contractors is a matter for the unions involved and the employer of said contractors.

As announced in October, the Government has decided to introduce an investment support scheme for long duration electricity storage (LDES) assets, including pumped storage hydro (PSH). This scheme will be delivered by Ofgem. We expect it to open for applications in 2025.

As the scheme has not yet opened, there are currently no formal proposals for Ofgem to consider. The Government is aware of interest in Welsh PSH and the potential for there to be some Welsh project applications in due course.

Accelerating to net zero will unlock a range of benefits for businesses, including new market opportunities, access to green finance and reduced energy bills.

Climate Change Agreements provide tax discounts for businesses reducing their emissions, and the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund supports industrial sites with high energy use to transition.

We are currently running a pilot in the West Midlands, providing energy audits and grants to small and medium businesses to support them in decarbonising.

Small and medium-sized businesses can visit the UK Business Climate Hub, which is run in partnership with government, for advice and sources of finance or support on reducing emissions.

The Government is committed to transforming Britain into a clean energy superpower and is working closely with Ofgem; to ensure energy is fair and affordable for consumers now and in the future.

Ofgem already regulate the cost of the transmission network, which safely and efficiently transports gas across GB, and under the current price cap represents an average annual cost of £7 per consumer.

Capacity of GB’s gas storage is not regulated by Ofgem however analysis published the Energy Security Plan Update in December 2023 shows we have sufficient and flexible gas storage to meet peak gas demand on any given day.

The Government recognises the importance of local authorities in driving net zero. Great British Energy’s Local Power Plan will support local authorities to increase their capability and capacity to build a pipeline of successful projects in their local areas.

At Autumn Budget, Government introduced the first integrated settlements with Greater Manchester and West Midlands Combined Authorities, which include piloting the devolution of retrofit funding from 2025-26, which aims to support economic growth and the net zero transition.

The Government will also partner with local authorities to deliver the Warm Homes Plan, which will support investment in insulation, low carbon heating and other home improvements to cut bills.

The electricity networks are owned by private network companies and regulated independently by Ofgem. Government is working closely with Ofgem to speed up delivery of new network infrastructure and reform the connections process to help achieve clean power by 2030 and accelerate to net zero.

Under the current distribution network price control (2023-2028), Ofgem has allowed £22.2bn for network investment. This will increase capacity, enabling connections for projects across GB, including rail and advanced manufacturing.

Landowners, businesses and homeowners that have electrical equipment, such as pylons or towers, sited on their land have the right to compensation for the value of their land, as well as for any losses or expenses incurred. Acquiring authorities can also put in place discretionary schemes offering additional compensation. As compensation is provided by the electricity network licence holders, not the Government, we cannot provide an estimate of potential costs.

More broadly, the Government is committed to ensuring that communities who live near new clean energy infrastructure can see the benefits and is currently considering how to deliver this most effectively.

We have kickstarted delivery of the Government's ambitious Warm Homes Plan, which will transform homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing new insulation to rolling out low carbon heating like solar and heat pumps.

The plan will offer grants and low interest loans to support investment, and we will partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out this plan. This includes the announcement of the Warm Homes: Local Grant which will provide energy performance measures and low carbon heating to low-income households in England.

The Government will consult this year on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the domestic private rented sector. The consultation will include proposals for rented homes to achieve Energy Performance Certificate C or equivalent by 2030. We encourage landlords and other key stakeholders to feed into this important consultation when published. We will set out a legislative timetable in due course following the consultation and consideration of the responses.

The latest estimate of the number of households in Bournemouth East constituency who are in fuel poverty is 6,812, which is 13.9% of households in the constituency. This estimate is taken from the published sub-regional fuel poverty statistics, in Table 4: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics.

The Government is reviewing the building physics model and methodology underpinning EPCs to make it fit for purpose to support net zero. A public consultation on the new building physics model, the Home Energy Model, closed on 27 March 2024.

We are now reviewing the responses and will publish a response in the coming months. We will also consult shortly on proposals to improve EPCs and aim to consult further on the underlying Home Energy Model for producing them in 2025.

The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (formerly SHDF) will provide grant funding for Housing Associations and Local Authorities to install retrofit measures to improve the energy efficiency ratings of a significant amount of social housing stock currently below EPC C up to that standard.

Wave 3 of the fund is open for applications until midday on 25 November 2024. The scheme is expected to begin delivery in Spring 2025 following the allocation of funding to grant recipients.

Additionally, the National Wealth Fund has worked with leading banks to make £1bn available to retrofit social housing, which we will build on.

The Government is providing a range of support to encourage the adoption of heat pumps. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 and the Warm Homes: Local Grant help to support privately owned, social and privately rented properties respectively. The BUS also supports businesses to install heat pumps and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is supporting a wide range of public sector organisations to install low carbon heating, including heat pumps.

The forthcoming Warm Homes Plan will also include additional measures to support investment in low carbon heating.

The Government will consult on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the domestic private rented sector and on introducing a minimum energy efficiency standard for the social rented sector. The Government will work closely with both the private and socially rented sectors during the consultations and will consider potential costs for private landlords and social housing providers in our assessment of options for the minimum energy efficiency standards.

Landlords can use our ‘Help for Households’ GOV.UK page to find available support via the Home Upgrade Grant and the Great British Insulation Scheme. In addition, there is a zero-rate of VAT until March 2027 on energy saving measures. Government will consult this year on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the domestic private rented sector. This consultation will set out proposals on maximum spend required from landlords and the exemptions regime to manage the cost burden placed on landlords, including those who own properties that are difficult to retrofit, whilst still achieving our ambition to lift households out of fuel poverty.

The Department frequently engages with Cabinet colleagues on matters of national and energy security. The Government takes the security and resilience of UK energy infrastructure extremely seriously with the UK being one of the most reliable and safest energy systems, and one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world.

The Government will take a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. The Government will co-operate where it can, compete where it needs to, and challenge where it must.

The Government’s ambitious Warm Homes Plan will upgrade 5 million homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing new insulation to rolling out solar and heat pumps. We will partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out this plan. We will set out further detail on delivering our Warm Homes Plan in due course.

The Government’s clean energy superpower and growth missions will be enabled by a significant reinforcement of our electricity network, at all levels across the high voltage transmission and lower-voltage distribution networks. This is underway and includes working with Ofgem, the National Energy System Operator and industry to halve the development time for new transmission infrastructure and to reform the grid connections process.

Following NESO’s advice on 2030 Clean Power, the Government will publish a Clean Power Action Plan later this year, which will set out how we can deliver our ambition. The resources of North Wales already play a key role in delivering clean power, including through the Gywnt Y Mor offshore windfarm, and the Government is committed to working with the Welsh Government to deliver on our national missions and serve the people of Wales.

Since summer 2023, Great British Nuclear (GBN) has been administering a small modular reactor technology selection process for UK deployment, and as announced at Autumn Budget in October, four vendors have been invited to negotiate.

Once negotiations have concluded, the companies will be invited to submit final tenders, which GBN will then evaluate. Final decisions will be taken in the spring.

GBN is working to a timeline that enables a robust process underpinned by fairness and transparency and ensures any selected technology provides best value for money.

The Office for Clean Energy Jobs (‘the Office’) has been established within DESNZ. The Office will focus on developing a skilled workforce in core energy and net zero sectors, crucial to meeting our mission to make the UK a clean energy superpower. Recognising the critical workforce challenges within the energy transition, the Office is dedicated to ensuring that clean energy jobs are not only abundant, but also of high quality, focussing on fair pay, favourable terms, and good working conditions.

The Office is actively engaging with key stakeholders, including trade unions and industry leaders, to keep job quality at the forefront of our efforts. Grangemouth will be among the first areas that the Office will work with, as part of the joint UK and Scottish Government investment plan. DESNZ will also come on board as a strategic partner to develop a skills passport to support workers to transition to the clean energy sector.

The Government has fulfilled its manifesto commitment to transfer to the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme investment reserve to Members. I am open to considering options put forward by the Trustees for changes to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

The Government has fulfilled its manifesto commitment to transfer to the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme investment reserve to Members. I am open to considering options put forward by the Trustees for changes to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme.

Ministers have not held meetings on this specific matter with Ofgem. The Department is aware that Ofgem’s licensing regime already enables small-scale generators to apply for a supply licence that is restricted to a specific geographic area.

The Government’s Local Power Plan aims to support local energy generation projects through working with local authorities, combined authorities and communities. Officials within the department are in discussions with Ofgem to understand the current regulatory landscape in more detail.

The Government recognises that too many households across GB are currently unable to send automatic readings to their energy suppliers, including meters without access to WAN coverage. We will set out new plans to improve the rollout and the consumer experience, alongside Ofgem, in due course.

The UK was the first country to set legally binding carbon budgets and the first major economy to establish a net zero target in law. The Impact Assessment of the Sixth Carbon Budget included a cost-benefit analysis which showed the economic costs and benefits of net zero. Without the shift to renewable energy, we will continue to be exposed to volatile fossil fuel markets and the cost of living crises households had to live through in the last Parliament. The UK has a vital role to play - nearly half of annual global emissions come from countries producing 3% or less of the global total, and our domestic leadership is essential to persuade others to act and protect future generations from climate breakdown.

At COP29, the Prime Minister announced the UK’s ambitious and credible NDC target to reduce all greenhouse gas emissions by at least 81% by 2035, compared to 1990 levels, excluding international aviation and shipping emissions.

This is an ambitious, economy-wide emission reduction target, covering all greenhouse gases, sectors and categories and aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, as set out in the Global Stocktake, agreed at COP28. It aligns with the recommendation of the independent Climate Change Committee published on 26 October and is consistent with the effort required to deliver our ambitious Carbon Budget 6 (2033-2037). More details on delivery will follow in our cross-economy plan to meet carbon budgets, to be published in due course.

The Department is working closely with industry to make sure they are addressing meters that are not providing automatic readings. This work includes monitoring and sharing benchmarked performance data, sharing best practice and providing guidance on how to identify and resolve meter operation issues.

Energy suppliers are obligated under their licence conditions to meet minimum annual installation targets and take all reasonable steps to ensure their customers’ smart meters are functional. The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is responsible for regulating

As the independent regulator, Ofgem assesses network owners’ investment plans with regard to their duties, including to support net zero. Government supports Ofgem’s ambition for acceleration of network build and strategic investment in the next electricity transmission price control, covering the period 2026-31. Ofgem’s current consultation on the framework for the next electricity distribution price control (starting in 2028) identifies the need for significant investment ahead of need, strategic planning, and regulatory changes to prepare the GB distribution networks for net zero.

As the independent regulator, Ofgem assesses network owners’ investment plans with regard to their duties, including to support net zero. Government supports Ofgem’s ambition for acceleration of network build and strategic investment in the next electricity transmission price control, covering the period 2026-31. Ofgem’s current consultation on the framework for the next electricity distribution price control (starting in 2028) identifies the need for significant investment ahead of need, strategic planning, and regulatory changes to prepare the GB distribution networks for net zero.

The reinforcement of our electricity network is critical to deliver clean, secure power to homes and businesses across the country. This reinforcement includes both new infrastructure, on and offshore, and upgrades to existing lines which are always considered first. Transmission and distribution companies are carrying out significant upgrades to increase the capacity of existing lines on their networks. However, upgrading will not eliminate the need for new lines as it will not be sufficient to provide the necessary network capacity in all areas.

Batteries have a vital role to play in the energy sector, as set out in the National Energy System Operator’s recent advice on achieving clean power by 2030.

The Government is working closely with the National Energy System Operator, Ofgem and industry to facilitate the deployment of battery storage. The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan will provide details on the steps we are taking to increase battery storage capacity connected to the distribution and transmission networks.

The Government takes the security and resilience of our energy infrastructure extremely seriously with the UK being one of the most reliable and safest energy systems, and one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world.

The Government will take a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. The Government will co-operate where it can, compete where it needs to, and challenge where it must.