Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Great British Energy on reducing household energy bills.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower will bring energy security, protect billpayers, create good jobs, and help to protect future generations from the cost of climate breakdown. Delivering clean power by 2030 will protect billpayers from volatile international fossil fuel markets and bring down energy bills for good
Great British Energy is a key part of this plan. It will ensure taxpayers and billpayers reap the benefits of homegrown energy by investing in and developing clean energy projects across the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the proportion of overall household spending by lower income households on energy costs.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
DESNZ’s fuel poverty statistics include an affordability measure of the number of households in England required to spend over 10% of income on energy costs. In 2024, this was estimated at 8.99 million households (36.3%).
The review of the fuel poverty strategy consultation document includes a version of this measure limited to households on a low income, in the ‘Measuring fuel poverty’ section. An estimated 6.6 million low income households spent over 10% of income on energy costs in England in 2023.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what contribution GB Energy has made to reducing (a) gas, (b) electricity and (c) fuel bills since its establishment in May 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great British Energy (GBE) is a key part of our plan to protect bill payers from volatile international fossil fuel markets by accelerating clean power deployment. By investing in and developing clean energy projects GBE will ensure UK taxpayers and billpayers reap the benefits of homegrown energy.
The Great British Energy Act gained Royal Assent on the 15th May and the company is now setting up its headquarters in Aberdeen and recruiting the team that will deliver its work. The Secretary of State will set out a Statement of Strategic Priorities in due course but in the meantime GBE has made initial investments in community energy and working alongside other government departments to deliver a programme of solar power for schools and hospitals across the country.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
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 25 June 2025 to Question 60503 on Housing: Construction, what steps he is taking to help mitigate risks associated with fluctuations in energy prices.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government believes the best way to protect billpayers, both households and businesses, from fluctuations in energy prices is through our mission to deliver clean power by 2030. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support households to get value for money from their energy supplier.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government has been working with Ofgem to drive a step-change in customer service through the regulator's Consumer Confidence programme. This includes reviewing the rules around billing accuracy and complaint handling so that suppliers get it right first time.
Further, the government has been working with Ofgem to ensure that when things do go wrong, households get fairer, quicker, easier compensation. This includes looking at expanding automatic compensation to cover more key issues and at further increasing the value of base-level compensation from £40 to reflect the inconvenience for consumers when they are let down by their supplier.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what his Department's planned timetable is for publishing the outcome of the consultation entitled Extending the UK Emissions Trading Scheme cap beyond 2030, which closed on 9 April 2025.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK ETS Authority, the joint governance body comprising of the UK Government, Welsh Government, Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, is grateful for the range of stakeholder responses to the Extending the UK ETS cap beyond 2030 consultation.
The Authority recognises the importance of providing certainty and clarity on the scheme that is a cornerstone of its economy-wide approach to decarbonising the whole of the UK. A response to the consultation, outlining the Authority’s decisions, will be published as soon as possible.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the ability of (a) ceramics manufacturers and (b) other energy intensive industries to meet the UK Emissions Trading Scheme.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) participants, including those in energy intensive industries such as the ceramics sector, are provided with free allocations to mitigate the risk of carbon leakage and incentivise emissions reduction.
The UK ETS Authority is reviewing Free Allocation policy to ensure it supports sectors most at risk of carbon leakage and has guaranteed current free allocation levels until 2027.
The Authority commissioned an independent 2-stage evaluation of the scheme to provide evidence of its effectiveness, early outcomes and long-term impacts. The first findings of the evaluation, which include a preliminary assessment of carbon leakage and emissions reduction across the UK ETS, were published in December 2023.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the data set used to analyse carbon leakage assessments in the recent consultation on free allocation review for the UK Emissions Trading System.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The provision of Free Allocation under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) mitigates the risk of carbon leakage by reducing industrial sectors’ exposure to the carbon price.
The UK ETS Authority is reviewing Free Allocation policy to ensure it targets sectors most at risk of carbon leakage and consulted on its approach to carbon leakage assessment. DESNZ officials have engaged extensively with representatives from energy intensive industries and carefully considered the methodology used to determine carbon leakage risk, including the data sets used in calculations.
The outcomes of the Free Allocation Review, including the data used to assess carbon leakage, will be published in an upcoming Government Response accompanied by an Impact Assessment.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the energy efficiency of older housing stock in the West Midlands.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Warm Homes Plan will help people find ways to save money on energy bills and transform our ageing building stock into comfortable, low-carbon homes that are fit for the future, including those within the West Midlands. The Government will partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out this plan.
As the first step towards the Warm Homes Plan, the Government has committed an initial £3.4 billion over the next 3 years towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency, with £1 billion of this allocated to 2025/2026. Further details on the Warm Homes Plan will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what additional support his Department plans to provide to vulnerable households facing high winter fuel costs in 2025-26.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030. This, combined with our Warm Homes Plan to upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run is how we will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past.
The Government recognises that we need to support households struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we delivered the Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households last winter. We have recently consulted on the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, giving more eligible households £150 off their energy bills. These proposals would bring around 2.7 million households on a qualifying means-tested benefit into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million. The consultation closed on 24 March and DESNZ is considering the responses received.
I have been clear with suppliers that they should do all that they can to support their customers – including vulnerable consumers – who may be struggling with their bills.