Budget | Networks disputes taskforce unveiled and government buys nuclear sites

A taskforce will be launched to explore alternative resolution mechanisms for disputes between electricity network operators and landowners.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled the establishment of the taskforce in his Budget announcement, which was otherwise light on utility-related announcements.

The taskforce, which will be chaired by the government’s ex-chief whip Julian Smith, is one of a series of next steps outlined in the Budget document on the package of electricity grid reforms announced by Hunt in last November’s Autumn Statement.

These include an announcement that a ‘new, stringent’ gird connections process will be implemented by January 2025.

In the meantime, ministers will be working with National Grid Electricity System Operator to outline further interim reforms to the grid queue process by summer 2024.

The Budget document also states that the government will soon publish a response to its consultation on reforms to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects consenting process and the updated National Networks National Policy Statement.

Alongside the latest announcements on grid connections and planning, Hunt revealed that the government has reached an agreement on a £160 million deal with Hitachi to purchase the Wylfa and Oldbury-on-Severn ex-nuclear power plant sites in Ynys Môn and South Gloucestershire respectively.

Both are on the list of sites earmarked for future nuclear development by the government.

Hitachi abandoned its plan in 2019 to build a replacement at Wylfa for the site’s former Magnox reactor, which shut down in 2015, mainly because the UK government was not offering enough cash support for the project.

The chancellor also announced an additional £120 million of funding for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA) to support low carbon manufacturing supply chains.

The Budget document adds that up to £390 million of the GIGA budget will be earmarked for offshore wind & electricity networks with the same sum allocated for CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) and hydrogen.

Philip Dunne MP, chair of the House of Commons environmental audit committee, welcomed the government’s latest moves on grid reforms: “The reality of Net Zero Britain powered by low carbon and renewable sources at scale has been brought another step closer.”

However fuel poverty campaigners expressed dismay that the government had not brought forward additional spending to support energy bills, except for £500 million to extend the Household Support Fund for a further six months to September 2024.

Initially set up to help struggling households in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fund enables councils to offer grants for low-income earners with essential bills, including utilities.

But Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action, said fuel poor households had been forgotten in the Budget.

He said: “In less than four weeks nearly all energy crisis support comes to an end, with the Household Support Fund only continuing for another six months.

“But today the Budget has done almost nothing to help fuel poor households. Energy prices may be reducing but bills will remain almost 50% higher than pre-crisis levels.

“Cost-of-living payments and energy crisis rebates are a thing of the past and 6 million households across the UK will suffer in fuel poverty, struggling to stay warm at home.”

Christopher Hammond, chief executive of the UK100 umbrella group of councils, said the Budget had “barely” mentioned net zero and given “little attention” to rising fuel poverty.

He said: “The government spent £40 billion subsidising everyone’s energy bills, but under the current fiscal rules, it is unlikely to be able to afford so again. National politicians can’t kick fuel poverty into the long grass in favour of short-term electioneering without storing up long-term problems.

“Rather than waiting until we’re again in crisis, the Spring Budget should have been a chance to accelerate retrofit projects that local leaders can unlock as the fastest, most cost-effective route to delivering warm homes for all.”