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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with OFGEM on Distribution Network Operator margins and profits; and if he will make a statement.

Energy network price controls are a matter for Ofgem as the independent regulator and, by law, must be set independently of Government. Government welcomes Ofgem’s recent proposals for the next set of price controls (due to start in 2021) which Ofgem estimates will save customers £5 billion over 5 years. Government expects network companies to act in the best interests of consumers and welcomes the voluntary returns that have been made by some network companies in this price control. Ofgem estimates that these will benefit customers by more than £650 million. We expect the remaining companies to follow suit.