Oral Answers to Questions

Melanie Onn Excerpts

Tuesday 17th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

I cannot comment on the specific details of the case. However, I would like to know more about why the hon. Gentleman’s community might not benefit, because the aim is for all communities affected by hosting infrastructure to benefit in different ways. We are looking at the options—be they money off bills, or the community benefit funds that exist at the moment—as we work through the answers to the consultation launched by the previous Government. However, we are clear that if communities host infrastructure that is nationally important and benefits the whole country, they should benefit from doing so.

[Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes) (Lab)]

Community benefits come in many different forms—in my constituency, Ørsted has contributed £1 million towards Horizon Youth Zone, and RWE is supporting Projekt Renewable, which is a box park learning zone—but the most wide-reaching benefit is to people’s pockets. Schemes such as the Octopus fan club bring down people’s bills when the use of renewables is at its highest. How can other energy retailers deliver similar savings for consumers?

[Michael Shanks]

My hon. Friend asks an extremely important question. All communities should benefit from the transformation that we want to make to the energy system. Part of the answer is improving how we use smart systems right across the energy system, so that people have much more consumer-led flexibility in their options—we are moving forward with that. In the clean power action plan that we published last week, we committed to doing much more to give people the power to take advantage of some of the opportunities she mentions.