Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households received support through the Energy Price Guarantee; and what the total amount of support received was by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) was introduced in October 2022 to protect millions of households from the rising high cost of energy. Together, the EPG and Energy Bills Support Scheme covered around half of a typical household energy bill between October 2022 and June 2023, with a typical household saving £1,100 through the EPG. For more detail on the expenditure incurred by the EPG and other departmental energy schemes, I refer my hon. Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 22 April, Official Report, HCWS421.
The vast majority of households have benefitted from EPG support, paying less for their energy bills than they would have otherwise with no government intervention.
Information on support levels broken down by parliamentary constituency is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Answer from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to the Question from the hon. Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine on 16 April 2024, Official Report, column 156, when that meeting will be facilitated.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Officials in my office have been in contact the hon. Member to arrange a meeting to discuss the ongoing Green Deal complaints in her constituency.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's press release entitled UK backs new small nuclear technology with £210 million, published on 9 November 2021, what the cost to the public purse is of Government support to Rolls Royce SMR since 2021; and if she will make an estimate of the level of future funding they are forecast to receive by 2035.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under the Low Cost Nuclear programme, the Government has given a grant of up to £210 million to Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd to support development of the Rolls Royce Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design to complete the Generic Design Assessment Step Two. The Rolls Royce SMR is potentially capable of deployment in the UK in the early 2030s. Grant payments are disbursed in arrears subject to Rolls-Royce SMR providing supporting evidence to the grant administrator, UK Research and Innovation. There have been no commitments made for future funding after the Low Cost Nuclear programme.
Separately, Rolls Royce SMR is one of six vendors in the Great British Nuclear SMR Technology Selection Process which have been invited to submit tenders for technology partner contracts. The total funding made available to successful bidders will be subject to tender evaluation and approval of the full business case.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's press release entitled UK backs new small nuclear technology with £210 million, published on 9 November 2021, what estimate she has made of the projected return on investment of the Government's support to Rolls-Royce SMR.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under the Low Cost Nuclear programme, the Government has given a grant of up to £210 million to Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd to support development of the Rolls Royce Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design, potentially capable of deployment in the UK in the early 2030s. The value for money of the Low Cost Nuclear programme was assessed against Green Book principles as part of normal approvals processes ahead of the grant award.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the (a) average annual cost between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024 and (b) projected annual cost until 31 March 2025 of (i) electricity and (ii) heating bills for households on communal and district heat networks; and if she will make a comparative assessment of the cost of (A) those customer's bills and (B) the bills of other domestic customers.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
No new estimation has been made. I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to the hon Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) on 17 April 2023 to Question UIN 176758.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will take steps to bring district heating schemes under the same price protections as the rest of the energy market.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are introducing regulation from 2025 to appoint Ofgem as the heat network regulator. They will have powers to investigate and intervene on networks where prices for consumers appear to be unfair. Ofgem will consult on pricing regulation later in 2024 and price benchmarking will come into force in 2026.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to page 7 of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme Consultation Response, published on 14 March 2024, on what evidential basis her Department removed the requirement to fulfil the recommendations for loft and cavity wall insulation provided on an energy performance certificate for new applicants for the boiler upgrade scheme.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government response to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme consultation sets out a summary of the responses to each consultation question. Of the 205 responses to question 2 on whether we should maintain the requirement for a valid EPC with no outstanding recommendations for loft or cavity wall insulation, 95 respondents said ‘yes’, 14 respondents did not answer and 96 respondents said ‘no’ meaning just over 50% agreed with the removal of the requirement.
Removing the insulation requirements will reduce barriers to the scheme and support more property owners to move from polluting fossil fuel heating systems to low carbon heating.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will take steps to reduce the energy use of outdoor digital billboards.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Digital billboards and other signage displays are covered under the 2021 Ecodesign Regulations for electronic displays. These regulations set minimum energy performance standards to increase the energy efficiency of products. Additionally, the regulations include provisions for the recycling of these displays at the end of their life, and for the careful use of critical materials. These regulations are subject to post-implementation reviews.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 1 May 2024 to Question 23954 on Energy: Debts, what allowance for servicing consumer debt is permitted by Ofgem in setting the level of the Default Tariff Cap.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Ofgem has announced a one-off price cap adjustment of £28 (equivalent to around £2.33 per month) to be applied between April 2024 and March 2025 for direct debit and standard credit customers. This is intended to enable suppliers to recover reasonable costs as a result of increased levels of bad debt, ensuring the retail energy market remains resilient and suppliers are able to offer consumers an appropriate level of support in managing their debts.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of using transport and storage companies for the development of provisional cluster expansion plans for Track-2 carbon capture, usage and storage on the timely roll-out of the projects.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The CCUS Track-2 December 2023 Market Update set out government’s proposed Track-2 approach of an ‘anchor’ and ‘buildout’ phase; this embedded learnings from the CCUS Track-1 process. The Track-2 process aims to establish clusters at pace and provide a platform for flexibility and innovation in future phases, as well as to carry out transport and storage sizing.
At ‘anchor’ phase, Acorn and Viking will be invited to submit plans for initial capture projects, as well as a provisional expansion plan for the ‘buildout’ phase. The format of the buildout rounds will be announced in due course and may be subject to factors including project pool maturity and progress against our Net Zero and Energy Security objectives.