WIREDGOV

Government delivers commitment to ensure households near new or upgraded pylons will save up to £250 a year for 10 years, as part of the Plan for Change.

• Legal requirements for communities to directly benefit from hosting grid infrastructure to be introduced through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill
• Huge boost for rural communities, who will see hundreds of pounds in their pockets for hosting infrastructure, alongside substantial benefits  
• Community benefits will help the whole country by connecting more clean homegrown power to the grid, unlocking growth, jobs and investment across the country as part of the Clean Power Action Plan

People living near new pylons across Great Britain will get money off their energy bills, as the government delivers on a landmark commitment as part of its Plan for Change for clean power by 2030.    

Under powers in the government’s upcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, households within 500 metres of new or upgraded electricity transmission infrastructure will get electricity bill discounts of up to £2,500 over 10 years. This will see rural communities receiving hundreds of pounds in their pockets for hosting vital infrastructure. 

Alongside money off bills, separate new guidance will set out how developers should ensure communities hosting transmission infrastructure can benefit, by funding projects like sports clubs, educational programmes, or leisure facilities.  

Where communities host this vital infrastructure, the government’s position on principle is that it is right these communities directly benefit from supporting this nationally critical mission. In turn, this will benefit every household in the country by getting the UK off dependency on fossil fuel markets and protecting billpayers with clean homegrown power. 

Ensuring community benefits is vital in speeding up the building of clean power infrastructure.  

Around twice as much new transmission network infrastructure will be needed by 2030 as has been built in the past decade, with new legislation removing barriers and getting Britain building. Community benefits can be an important part of new infrastructure plans, potentially reducing opposition and planning delays. At the moment, too many projects have been bogged down in the pre-planning stage for many years trying to win local support. Vital projects in the pipeline which have faced opposition include transmission lines between Norwich to Tilbury, Grimsby to Walpole and the Sealink connection between Suffolk and Kent.  

Building new transmission infrastructure is critical to unleashing growth with £40 billion a year of mainly private investment, creating good jobs across the country, protecting households from the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets and helping make Britain energy secure.   

Every family and business in the country has paid the price of Britain’s dependence on foreign fossil fuel markets, which was starkly exposed when Putin invaded Ukraine and British energy customers were among the hardest hit in Western Europe, with bills reaching record heights.   

The government’s clean power mission is the solution to this crisis; by sprinting to clean, homegrown energy, including renewables and nuclear, the UK can take back control of its energy and protect both family and national finances from fossil fuel price spikes with cleaner, affordable power.   

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