Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make a comparative assessment of the impact of energy costs on steel companies in (a) the UK, (b) Germany, (c) Italy, (d) France and (e) Sweden.

Ofgem has previously carried out research on what drives comparatively high GB electricity prices for energy intensive industries (EIIs) and have compared them with selected European countries. They published a report in 2021 which can be found here:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/research-gb-electricity-prices-energy-intensive-industries.

The Government has supported the steel sector extensively, including providing over £800m since 2013 to help with the costs of electricity and to support a low carbon transition. The 2022 British Energy Security Strategy announced that the EII Compensation Scheme would be extended for a further 3 years with increased aid intensity, representing a doubling of relief. It also announced that the Government would consider making similar changes to the related EII Exemption Scheme and that we will explore other possible measures to reduce electricity costs for EIIs.