Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the British Industry Supercharger Scheme on (a) carbon emissions and (b) the (i) viability and (ii) competitiveness of energy intensive industries.

For energy intensive industries (EIIs) particularly exposed to international trade, paying the full amount of Government electricity policy costs can increase the risk of the movement of production to another country due to the different levels of decarbonisation effort (known as “carbon leakage”). It can also increase the cost of electricity relative to other energy sources making it more challenging for users to switch to less carbon-intensive production.

Analysis shows that the Supercharger proposals could reduce average electricity prices for UK EIIs from around £41MWh to around £22MWh, having a direct impact on their competitiveness and reducing global carbon emissions.