Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of devolving powers to license electricity suppliers operating in Wales.

The Government has made no such specific assessment.

A universal service obligation (USO) ensures that every household and small business is supplied, regardless of their location. This prevents suppliers segmenting customers by their profitability. As well as the USO, it should be noted that electricity distribution networks are not constructed along national boundaries - the same networks serve customers either side of the Wales/England border, making it very difficult or impossible to split customers by their location such that different licensing regimes can be introduced.