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Energy: Housing

Asked by Mrs Elsie BlundellLabourDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled Answered 8 September 2026UIN 22745

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to expand targeted home insulation schemes and protect vulnerable prepayment meter customers from winter energy disconnection risks in Heywood and Middleton North constituency.

Answered by Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Tackling affordability is this Government's number one priority and we’ve made significant interventions to provide direct support with household energy bills.

At last year's Budget the Government removed policy costs from them worth an average £150 a year, with those reductions now factored into future bills for years to come.

In July, one of the new Prime Minister’s first actions was to remove VAT from domestic electricity bills for six months from 1 October, reducing the annual Ofgem price cap by around £45 and benefiting all households automatically, including those on fixed tariffs and prepayment meters.

These actions followed a significant expansion of the £150 Warm Homes Discount to six million households last winter, and confirming that level of support over the rest of the decade.

In terms of longer term support, the Government is expanding support for home energy upgrades including insulation through the £15 billion Warm Homes Plan, the biggest public investment in home upgrades in British history. Low-income households can access fully-funded grants through the Warm Homes: Local Grant and the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund.

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