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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect on average household energy bills of the UK leaving the EU.

The Government recognises the importance to businesses and households of having access to an affordable, secure and sustainable supply of energy. The UK’s exit from the EU will not alter the fact that our energy system is resilient and secure and drawn from a number of sources.

Many factors impact energy prices including fuel prices, exchange rates and generation mix. Great Britain will remain physically linked to the EU post-exit through electricity and gas interconnectors. We expect that any change in electricity prices in Great Britain as a result of changes to interconnector trading arrangements would fall within the normal range of market volatility. For gas markets, the mechanisms of cross-border trade are not expected to fundamentally change after exit. The UK gas market is one of the world’s most developed and provides security through supply diversity, most of which is not dependent on the EU.

Energy regulators in Ireland and Northern Ireland have set out that the Single Electricity Market (SEM) will continue to operate immediately after Brexit, including in a No Deal scenario. The SEM is designed to put downward pressure on consumer electricity prices, facilitate the integration of renewables and provide continued security of supply. The UK is committed to seeking to maintain the SEM in any scenario and will therefore take all possible measures to do so.

The Government has taken steps to enable electricity and gas trade to continue and maintain the effectiveness of domestic regulation, providing legal clarity for industry on the future operations of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’s energy markets.