Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the report entitled, Cost of energy: independent review, published by his Department in August 2017, if he will make it his policy to place all electricity policy costs into a single levy; and exempt energy intensive industry from those costs.
We have taken a range of actions to reduce the cost of electricity for energy intensive industries, including a package of relief worth over £850 million since 2013, supplemented by the announcement of a £315 million Industrial Energy Transformation Fund at the Budget.
As my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy made clear in his speech of 15th November 2018 (available on gov.uk), a full exemption from all historic policy costs for all industry would add around £1.5 billion to household bills by 2020, and any future decisions must take full account of the impacts on other bill payers.