Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made a recent estimate of the total cost to (a) consumers and (b) the Exchequer of issuing curtailment payments to energy companies in the last 12 months.

The System Operator is responsible for managing constraints on the networks. It does this by curtailing a type of generation, for example wind, and turning up an alternative generation, as needed. Costs are funded through electricity bills, not through the Exchequer. Annual network constraint costs for 2023 were £1.4bn (2023 prices).

To manage the level of constraints on the system and ensure the UK's homes can be powered by clean, green energy in future, government is working with Ofgem, network owners and others to halve the build process from 14 years to 7 through our Transmission Acceleration Action Plan.