Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Brewer Excerpts

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

My hon. Friend makes a point that others have raised. We are looking in granular detail at how the system works to ensure that the regulatory landscape allows such opportunities to be taken. I am very happy to meet him to discuss this further. We are taking a detailed look at every single aspect of the system, so that communities, businesses and others can benefit from being able to export power to the grid. That will help the country with its energy needs and deliver a benefit for local communities.

[Alex Brewer (North East Hampshire) (LD)]

18. What steps he is taking to help reduce household energy bills.

[Mrs Elsie Blundell (Heywood and Middleton North) (Lab)]

22. What steps he is taking to help support low income families in the context of trends in the level of energy prices.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Miatta Fahnbulleh)]

We believe that the best way to protect households permanently is through our mission to deliver clean power by 2030. Combined with our warm homes plan to upgrade millions of homes across the country so that they are warmer and cheaper to run, that will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past. We know that we need to support people while we make that transition, which is why we are extending the warm home discount.

[Alex Brewer]

Almost 10% of people in my North East Hampshire constituency live in fuel poverty. I agree with the Minister that investing in renewable energy would help to tackle that, so how is she working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to empower local authorities to develop renewable energy generation locally—by following Europe’s lead in putting solar over car parks, for example—in order to make energy cheaper and more sustainable?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

The hon. Member is right: there is a big push to work with local and regional authorities to ensure not only that we generate renewables that can impact on bills, but that we upgrade homes. Through local energy action plans, local authorities are, for the first time, working with the National Energy System Operator and other systems operators to drive that. Local and regional authorities have a crucial role to play in upgrading millions of homes across the country.