Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of increased electricity interconnection on welfare.

Ofgem considers interconnectors’ contribution to welfare as part of their assessment for regulatory approval.

The first round of projects that received regulatory approval from Ofgem showed GB consumer welfare benefits of up to £12 billion over their 25 year regulated lifetimes.

The second round of projects that received regulatory approval from Ofgem (GridLink, NeuConnect, and NorthConnect) showed GB consumer welfare benefits of over £7 billion over their lifetimes.

The full details of Ofgem’s assessments for these projects, and a small number of other projects which have been assessed separately, can be found at

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/electricity/transmission-networks/electricity-interconnectors.