Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of using community benefit funds from renewable energy projects to provide fuel vouchers to low-income households on levels of energy affordability.

On 21 May, the government published a working paper on community benefits and shared ownership of low carbon energy infrastructure. The government recognises that community benefit funding from renewable energy infrastructure creates opportunities for long term investment into host communities, and the government believes that funding packages will have the most impact if they can be tailored to the community’s preferences and priorities. The working paper intends to gather insight on how prescriptive the government should be on how funds can be used, and any other factors that should be considered in order to maximise their impact.