Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to support households that are not connected to the gas grid in the context of forecast increases to the Default Tariff Cap from July 2026.

The Government acted in the Autumn Budget to reduce electricity costs, to the benefit of all households with a domestic electricity meter, including those not on the gas grid. By scrapping the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) home insulation scheme and moving 75% of the domestic costs of the Renewables Obligation to the Exchequer, we have been able to provide immediate savings for households. The changes made by this Government remain in place, meaning energy bills will rise by less that they would have done otherwise.

This support is in addition to the support provided for families that use heating oil and LPG via the Crisis and Resilience Fund in England, as well as the continuation of the Warm Home Discount Scheme – which provides low-income households with a £150 rebate off their winter energy bill – until the end of the decade. In addition, we are upgrading as many homes as possible ahead of winter with the biggest investment in warm homes in British history.

The way to get bills down for good and avoid these price spikes is to go further and faster with this Government’s drive for clean homegrown power we control.