Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her Department has made of the feasibility of introducing a rising block tariff system within the domestic retail electricity market.

The Government will continue to explore ways to support households with the cost of living. This includes building on work undertaken through the Household Income Kickstarter to ensure Government has better data through which to target support more effectively and examining with Ofgem how different tariff structures and cost recovery approaches, such as rising block tariffs, could work to the benefit of consumers. At the Budget the Government announced reforms to the retail energy market, including the abolishing of the gas standing charge to give households more control over what they pay. We are also continuing to work closely with Ofgem through its Cost Allocation and Recovery Review to consider wider reform of electricity standing charges and how electricity-system costs should be recovered in future.

Targeted bill-discount support is currently provided through the Warm Home Discount which provides eligible low-income households with £150 off their winter energy bill. Further support was announced at the Budget, including the launch of a £2.6 billion Household Energy Payment, which will provide a £100 payment directly into bank accounts from January 2027 for households in England in council tax bands A-D, supporting up to 20 million households, including almost 90% of households on the lowest incomes. This is on top of the removal of VAT on electricity bills that took effect on 1 October and an average of £150 of costs removed from bills since April.