Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to (a) consult and (b) compensate local communities impacted by new electricity network infrastructure projects.

The Government has announced measures to ensure that communities directly benefit from hosting clean energy infrastructure, to help support the rollout of grid infrastructure which will deliver our new renewable generation to homes and businesses. This includes community funds guidance that sets out the government’s recommendations on how communities can benefit from hosting clean energy infrastructure, which provides a level of funding of £200,000 per km of overhead line and £530,000 per substation, and an electricity bill discount scheme providing a discount of up to £250 per year over up to 10 years for households within 500m of new or significantly upgraded transmission network infrastructure. Additionally, the Government intends to carry out further stakeholder engagement on the bill discount scheme in due course to gather evidence and feedback from stakeholders, including local communities.