Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the cost of balancing payments, constraint payments and grid reinforcement associated with intermittent renewable generation.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Historical data on constraint and balancing costs is held and published by the National Energy System Operator (NESO). This data is disseminated primarily through NESO’s Annual Balancing Cost Report (with supporting data), which also includes projections of these costs out to 2035 under a range of scenarios.
Ofgem anticipates that over £70bn of investment in GB's electricity transmission networks may be required between 2026-2031 as part of their RIIO-ET3 price control (the third electricity transmission price control under their Revenues, Incentives, Innovation and Outputs framework). This investment is not only required to achieve the government's clean power target but is also essential to maintain a reliable electricity system and to deliver economic growth. This investment pays for itself over the period by enabling more low carbon energy onto the system and by reducing system constraints.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the cost to households of environmental and social obligation policy costs included in (a) electricity and (b) gas bills in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Policy costs on bills over the last 10 years have been published on Ofgem’s website: Ofgem’s Default Tariff Cap data (‘Final levelized cap rates model (Annex 9)’, tab: 1c Consumption adjusted levels, row 42). A key priority of the Government is to tackle Britain’s affordability crisis: the Government is acting to bring bills down now and over the long term through the transition to clean, home-grown power, and will continue to explore ways to both lower energy bills for consumers and reduce barriers for consumers to adopt clean technologies.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the fiscal cost to the Exchequer of (a) subsidies and (b) tax incentives relating to (i) electric vehicles, (ii) heat pumps, (iii) home retrofit schemes and (iv) decarbonisation grants.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Revenue and Customs publishes annual statistics on the cost of tax relief and expenditures. This information is available through the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-relief-statistics.
The Warm Homes Plan commits £15 billion of public investment over this Parliament to support the heat pump roll-out, retrofit for low-income households, and wider home decarbonisation measures.
The Government remains firmly committed to the Electric Vehicle (EV) transition, and we are investing over £7.5 billion out to 2035 to help drivers and the automotive sector make the switch.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what comparative assessment he has made of the opportunity cost of (a) public expenditure on net zero policies and (b) alternative uses, including tax reduction and energy bill relief.
Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The case for clean energy and climate action is stronger than ever. If we do not take action now, we will miss out on all the opportunities of the transition – including reducing our exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets, protecting bill payers, warmer homes, cleaner air, good jobs and increased access to nature.
This is an investment in our infrastructure, our economy and our future. The OBR has been clear that the economic costs of delayed or insufficient action are far larger than the investment requirements of a managed transition, and estimates that under a 3°C global warming scenario, UK GDP could be around 8% lower by the early 2070’s, compared to a no climate change baseline.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will publish a comprehensive balance sheet of direct, indirect and contingent costs associated with meeting net zero targets.
Answered by Katie White - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The case for clean energy and climate action is stronger than ever. If we do not take action now, we will miss out on all the opportunities of the transition – including reducing our exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets, protecting bill payers, warmer homes, cleaner air, good jobs and increased access to nature.
This is an investment in our infrastructure, our economy and our future. The OBR has been clear that the economic costs of delayed or insufficient action are far larger than the investment requirements of a managed transition, and estimates that under a 3°C global warming scenario, UK GDP could be around 8% lower by the early 2070’s, compared to a no climate change baseline.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the total public expenditure committed to achieving net zero by 2050, including projected liabilities, broken down by year and department.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The government has allocated £65bn in capital spending to clean energy, climate and nature including nuclear across 2025-26 to 2029-30. This is an average of £16bn a year, mainly across the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Department for Transport, and the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what total revenue accrued to the Exchequer from (a) the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, (b) carbon taxes, (c) related environmental levies and (d) other carbon pricing mechanisms, in the latest year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
2024-25 receipts for the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, Carbon Price Support, Climate Change Levy, and relevant environmental taxes (including Aggregates Levy, Landfill Tax, Plastic Packaging Tax and Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility) can be found at Annex A of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2026 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what (a) subsidies, (b) grants, (c) contracts for difference payments, and (d) other support mechanisms have been provided for renewable generation since 2010; and what the cumulative cost to taxpayers has been.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
For a breakdown of billpayer funding see:
To note: These billpayer funded levy figures are not equivalent to net impacts on bill payers, as renewable deployment has also suppressed wholesale prices over this period.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of (a) the proposed changes to lender reporting practices to Credit Reference Agencies to mitigate the impact of coerced debt on credit files and (b) the other Financial Inclusion Strategy measures relating to victim-survivors of economic abuse.
Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published its Financial Inclusion Strategy last year, which sets out an ambitious programme of measures for Government and the financial services sector to improve financial inclusion. The overall Strategy will be reviewed two years from publication to provide an update on the implementation of specific interventions.
The Strategy considers economic abuse as a key theme across the different areas and seeks to support victim-survivors and help them to regain financial independence through industry interventions to increase access to banking services and inform the insurance sector’s approach to economic abuse.
Credit reference agencies, lenders, the expert charity, Surviving Economic Abuse, and wider consumer representatives, are also working closely to develop an approach which improves the impact of coerced debt on victim-survivors’ credit files. This is a complex area with ongoing work needed to ensure any change to the data on a credit file does not negatively affect victim-survivors’ ability to secure credit in future and that they are able to confirm that it is safe for their provider to make changes. Positive progress is being made with updates to follow in due course.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the total annual value of (a) direct and (b) indirect taxpayer-funded subsidies supporting net zero policies and programmes, broken down by scheme.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Tax reliefs for net zero policies and programmes can be found in the ‘estimated cost of tax reliefs’ document here: Tax reliefs - GOV.UK. To support net zero, government has allocated £65bn in capital spending to clean energy, climate and nature including nuclear across 2025/26 to 2029/30- an average of £16bn a year.