Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the (a) average annual cost between 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024 and (b) projected annual cost until 31 March 2025 of (i) electricity and (ii) heating bills for households on communal and district heat networks; and if she will make a comparative assessment of the cost of (A) those customer's bills and (B) the bills of other domestic customers.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
No new estimation has been made. I refer the hon Member to the answer I gave to the hon Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) on 17 April 2023 to Question UIN 176758.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will take steps to bring district heating schemes under the same price protections as the rest of the energy market.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are introducing regulation from 2025 to appoint Ofgem as the heat network regulator. They will have powers to investigate and intervene on networks where prices for consumers appear to be unfair. Ofgem will consult on pricing regulation later in 2024 and price benchmarking will come into force in 2026.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what grants and programmes are available to help video games studios move to greener technology and energy.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government keeps energy efficiency support for all non-domestic organisations under review. Existing initiatives which may be applicable include an exemption on business rates for green technology and providing grants under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
The Government are reviewing what additional levers can be introduced to help organisations to be more energy efficient, including financial support. As part of this, the Government have launched a new Energy Efficiency Taskforce to help achieve our target to reduce our energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030.