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 ensure that the transition to clean power does not increase levels of (a) energy poverty and (b) regional inequalities.

The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently. This, combined with our Warm Homes Plan to upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run is how we will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past.

Alongside the Warm Homes Plan we are developing an updated fuel poverty strategy for England, which aims to accelerate progress to alleviate fuel poverty across all regions this decade. This recognises that we need to support households struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we delivered the £150 Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households last winter. In February, we published a consultation on expanding the Warm Home Discount which would bring around 2.7 million households into the scheme, pushing the total number of eligible households up to 6 million.