Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) tax incentives and (b) rebates to wholesale sector distributors to help increase (i) investment in renewable energy projects and (ii) recharging and refueling infrastructure.

A wholesale distributor incurring qualifying expenditure on plant or machinery could be eligible for full expensing, a 100% first-year allowance available for expenditure incurred before 1 April 2026. Investments in renewable energy projects and recharging and refuelling infrastructure could be eligible for full expensing, depending on the nature of the expenditure. There is a factsheet about full expensing available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-expensing/spring-budget-2023-full-expensing.

In addition, there are targeted 100% first-year allowances for qualifying expenditure on plant or machinery for electric vehicle charging points and gas refuelling stations, which could be claimed if full expensing was not available. These first-year allowances are available until April 2025.

More broadly, the UK has been a global front-runner in supporting provision of charging infrastructure along with private sector investment.

The Government have spent over £2 billion to support the transition to zero emission vehicles. This funding has focused on reducing barriers to the adoption of such vehicles, including accelerating the rollout of chargepoint infrastructure.

The UK is also a world leader in the decarbonisation of the electricity system, having reduced emissions by 70% since 2010. The Government is supporting renewables deployment through a range of policy levers, including the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. Since launching the scheme in 2014, contracts totalling over 30GW of new renewable capacity have been awarded, including around 20GW of offshore wind.