Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of introducing a discounted essential energy block for all households; and how this compares to the current cost of means-tested energy support schemes.

The Government recognises the need to support vulnerable households which are struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power. That is why the Autumn Budget acted to take an average £150 of costs off people’s energy bills. This support came on top of the £150 off energy bills provided for around 6 million families under the Warm Home Discount, cutting fuel poverty.

A discounted essential energy block is one form of energy bills support, the cost of which would depend on the size of the subsidised block and how many households are supported. As important as the support mechanism is the ability to target it at those who most need support. We are working across Government to improve access to and sharing of relevant data to enable us to target support more effectively in the future. Specifically, the ‘Kickstarter’ programme under the National Data Library is testing how public sector data can be used to better target support.