- Most ambitious package of energy measures in a decade to go before parliament to boost
- measures will attract private investment, reindustrialise our economy and create jobs through new clean technologies, as well as protect consumers
- new powers to help prevent disruption to fuel supply because of industrial action, malicious protests and on grounds of national security also introduced
New measures to propel the
The landmark Energy Security Bill, announced as part of the Queen's Speech, will be introduced into
It follows immediate support from the government to help people with rising energy costs and puts into law measures to boost long-term energy independence, security, and prosperity including in the British Energy Security Strategy announced earlier this year.
The Bill will help drive an unprecedented £100 billion of private sector investment by 2030 into new British industries that are built to last and help diversify our domestic energy supply, including hydrogen and offshore wind, and support around 480,000 green jobs by the end of the decade.
Business and Energy Secretary
To ensure we are no longer held hostage by rogue states and volatile markets, we must accelerate plans to build a truly clean, affordable, home-grown energy system in
This is the biggest reform of our energy system in a decade. We're going to slash red tape, get investment into the
The measures in the Energy Security Bill will allow us to stand on our own two feet again, reindustrialise our economy and protect the British people from eye-watering fossil fuel prices into the future.
Measures set to be introduced include those to support the deployment of low carbon technologies at scale such as carbon, capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen, helping drive investment by giving businesses the certainty they need. The government is determined to ensure
Measures included in the Bill, such as those encouraging the deployment of heat networks and driving down the cost of ultra-efficient electric heat pumps, will help scale up the installation of key clean technologies for the future - reducing the
Other new powers will enable the extension of the energy price cap beyond 2023, shielding millions of customers across the country from being overcharged. The price cap limits the amount suppliers can charge for each unit of gas and electricity and for the daily standing charge.
Meanwhile in further efforts to protect consumers, for the first time Ofgem will be appointed to oversee regulation of the heat networks market - some 480,000 consumers across
Consumers will be protected from increasing network prices in the event of energy network company mergers by enabling Competition and Markets Authority to review relevant mergers under the new Energy Network Special Merger Regime. This could save consumers up to £420 million over 10 years.
To prevent fuel supply disruption, such as from industrial action, malicious protest and for reasons of national security, the Bill gives the Secretary of State powers to pre-emptively prevent potential disruption to the downstream oil sector. The Bill requires industry to take measures to improve their own resilience, requires industry to provide vital information to ensure government can identify potential disruptions, and other reforms to ensure continuity of supply.
Today's Bill is the latest reform to bolster energy security and follows the Nuclear Energy (Financing) Act which received Royal Assent earlier this year. The Nuclear Act establishes a new funding model to attract a wider range of private investment into new nuclear power projects, cutting the cost of financing projects and reducing the cost to consumers. As a condition for financial support through the new funding mechanism, the government reserves the right take a 'special share' in all future nuclear projects.
Chief Executive of
The Energy Security Bill builds on the positive steps the Government outlined in its British Energy Security Strategy.
Director of External Affairs at the
As the first dedicated energy legislation in nearly a decade, today's Energy Security Bill is a welcome opportunity to enable a cleaner, more affordable and more secure energy system. With record levels of electric vehicles, renewable energy capacity and heat pumps being introduced, alongside new technologies such as low carbon hydrogen, the role of our energy networks in integrating these technologies into the energy system has never been more important.
Director of Advocacy at Energy
The energy industry is ready to deliver an affordable, clean power system that will benefit consumers and the
Chief Executive of the
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage has a critical role to play in reducing the
The CCSA has worked with the
1. Enable the extension of the energy price cap beyond 2023, protecting 22 million households across the country from being overcharged.
2. Establish a new independent Future System Operator, which will take a whole-system approach to coordinating and planning
3. Unleash competition in onshore electricity networks to save consumers up to £1 billion on projects tendered over the next 10 years, by finding new and efficient, innovative ways to build and deliver network solutions by inviting new parties to participate in this market.
4. Enable the Competition and Markets Authority to review any relevant energy network company mergers through the Energy Network Special Merger Regime. This will help to protect consumers from increasing network prices in the event of energy network company mergers, and we estimate this could save energy consumers up to £420 million over 10 years.
5. Protect consumers from cyber threats with new protections for smart appliances - the Bill will deliver protections for consumers and the grid by placing requirements on energy smart appliances and the organisations who control them.
6. Continue to drive industry progress on the smart meter rollout which is set to deliver a £6 billion net benefit to society. Smart meters are modernising energy for millions of consumers and providing households with near-real time information which they are using to manage their energy use and save money on their bills.
7. Create a new governance framework for energy codes, which will enable innovation and allow Ofgem to ensure that the technical and commercial rules of the electricity and gas markets can adapt to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving energy system. The energy codes cover everything from how buyers and sellers must interact in commercial markets to the technical specifications required to connect to the grid.
8. Reduce the number of cabling, landing points, and substations by introducing multi-purpose interconnectors as a licensable activity. This will provide certainty to investors and developers, enabling them to make decisions regarding future projects.
9. Remove obstacles to innovative batteries and pumped hydro storage. This will facilitate the deployment of electricity storage, such as batteries and pumped hydro storage, by clarifying it as a distinct subset of electricity generation.
10. Create a more equal and fair energy market by enabling government to establish a buy-out mechanism under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme for suppliers. As committed to in the Energy White Paper, new legislation will enable the removal of obligation thresholds under the scheme without creating significant financial and administrative burden for small suppliers. ECO is a domestic energy efficiency scheme focused on providing support to fuel poor, low income and vulnerable households by placing a requirement on larger energy suppliers to install energy efficiency and heating measures in people's homes in order to reduce their energy bills. The current ECO4 scheme came into force in
11. Ensure families are better protected by appointing Ofgem as the new regulator for heat networks in
12. Kickstart the development of heat networks and enable heat network zoning in
13. Take back control of powers given to the
14. Accelerate the growth of low carbon technologies including carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen by introducing state of the art business models, attracting private investment by providing long-term revenue certainty. Together with the measures on CO2 transport and storage, this will put the country on a path to seize market share and grow the economy.
15. Establish the economic regulation and licensing framework to enable the set-up and scale-up of the first-of-a kind CO2 transport and storage networks.
16. Enable the delivery of a large village hydrogen heating trial by 2025, providing crucial evidence to inform strategic decisions in 2026 on the role of hydrogen in heat decarbonisation. Two potential locations for this have already been announced in Whitby, in the Ellesmere Port area, and
17. Help establish a market-based mechanism for the low-carbon heat industry to step up investment and lower the cost of electric heat pumps, while scaling up domestic manufacturing and installation.
18. Through the Bill, the
19. Bring forward measures for downstream oil (fuel) security, covering sites such as oil terminals and filling stations, to prevent fuel supply disruption, including from industrial action, malicious protest and for reasons of national security.
20. Enhance our nuclear third party liability regime, that will lead to the availability of greater compensation to potential victims in the unlikely event of a nuclear incident, remove potential barriers to future investment and provide greater reassurance to private sector investors and the supply chain for new nuclear.
21. Facilitate the safe, and cost-effective clean-up of the
22. Make the
23. Ensure that the
24. Protect taxpayers by maximising cost recovery. In line with the polluter pays principle, the government will be able to more fully recover the costs associated with regulating offshore oil and gas decommissioning activities from the industry.
25. Bring forward the final delicensing and re-use of nuclear sites, allowing more proportionate clean-up of these sites, resulting in estimated savings of around £490 million (NPV) over the first 20 years, with similar savings up to 2080.
26. Strengthen the
Constructing new energy infrastructure and market reform does take time, so in the meantime the government has already taken action to protect households from the impact of rising prices, with a £37 billion package of financial support to help households with energy bills in the immediate term.
More recently this saw the announcement that almost all of the eight million most vulnerable households across the
As well as the energy bills discount due to come in from October doubled from £200 to £400, while the requirement to pay it back has been scrapped.
In addition, high global gas prices and linked high electricity prices that we are currently facing have given added urgency to the need to consider electricity market reform. The Review of the Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA), announced in the British Energy Security Strategy, is ongoing and ministers will set out options for reform this Summer.
The Bill also comes on top of the government's actions to help increase home energy efficiency, including investing £6.6 billion in total this parliament to improve the energy efficiency of homes and buildings across the country, delivering savings of £300 a year on average on their energy bills.
Powers introduced in the Bill will extend and apply mainly to
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