Draft Energy Prices Act 2022 (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2026

Claire Young Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd June 2026 General Committees

[Claire Young (Thornbury and Yate) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Alec. It was a positive step by the Government to remove the renewable obligations and ECO policies from consumer energy bills in the autumn Budget. Consumers in Northern Ireland should also be able to benefit, as consumers in Great Britain did, from the Government using the powers available to make energy bills cheaper. That is especially important as energy prices are expected to continue to increase for the rest of the year, and as households and businesses face the Trump tax on their bills after his reckless and illegal war with Iran, leading to the closure of the strait of Hormuz and soaring oil prices.

The Minister mentioned oil prices. We know that Northern Ireland has been particularly hard hit by rocketing heating oil prices, because almost two thirds of households there use heating oil. The Government need to take urgent action to set a price cap that shields off-grid households, but if this legislation enables anything that the Government do to then be taken forward by the Northern Ireland Assembly, can the Minister elaborate on how that will work?