Guidance

Factsheet: Bill discounts for transmission network infrastructure

Published 11 March 2025

The government is committed to sustained economic growth and getting Britain building again. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill is another major milestone in our reform programme.

The Bill will speed up and streamline the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure, supporting delivery of the government’s Plan for Change milestones of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England and fast-tracking 150 planning decisions on major economic infrastructure projects by the end of this Parliament.

It will also support delivery of the government’s Clean Power 2030 target by ensuring that key clean energy projects are built as quickly as possible.

These fact sheets are designed to inform readers on:

a) the issue specific measures are solving
b) what the bill will do
c) what this means in practice

What is the issue?

This government is committed to our mission for clean power by 2030, because clean, homegrown energy is the way to lower bills and boost Britain’s energy independence.

The electricity transmission network transports electricity from where it is generated to where it is needed. As we increase low-carbon and renewable electricity generation within the UK, we will need to increase the scale of the transmission network, at pace, to keep up with demand. It will not be possible to deliver a secure electricity supply – vital to growth and prosperity – without a transmission network that can transport it. Therefore, speeding up the rollout of new transmission network infrastructure is key to integrating low-carbon generation into the grid, advancing our net-zero goals, and avoiding jeopardizing our energy security, economic growth, and other critical infrastructure due to delays.

Constraint costs occur when there is insufficient capacity to transmit power to electricity users and generators are paid to turn down. This cost is ultimately paid for by bill payers, so a reduction in constraint costs could lead to cheaper bills in the future across Great Britain. Previous analysis by the National Grid Electricity System Operator, carried out under the previous government, indicates that, if delays to network build persist, annual constraint costs could rise from around £1.4 billion per year in 2023 to around £8 billion per year in the late 2020s. This could add around £80 per year to household electricity bills.^{[footnote 1]} Reducing network delays is critical to reducing constraint costs.

Maintaining public support is vital to the delivery of clean energy ambitions in Great Britain and those living near new transmission infrastructure should feel tangible benefit from the role their areas play in building a secure and low-cost electricity system. This government is committed to ensuring that communities living closest to new transmission infrastructure directly benefit from the delivery of cheaper, secure, and low-carbon energy, fostering support and shared benefits in the transition to clean power.

What will the Planning and Infrastructure Bill do?

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill provides the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero with powers to establish a Bill Discount Scheme in secondary legislation for households closest to new electricity transmission infrastructure. This scheme aims to boost community acceptance of new transmission infrastructure by ensuring communities directly benefit from their proximity to the new infrastructure. The secondary legislation will establish the various elements of the scheme in detail including: the form the benefit should take; eligibility for the benefit (which would be defined by reference to a property’s proximity to new transmission infrastructure); and define who the eligible recipients are and how the benefit should be passed to them.

What else are we proposing?

The implementation of the Bill Discount Scheme will not change the planning process and eligible recipients will still be eligible for bill discounts regardless of whether they have opposed clean energy infrastructure. Receiving bill discounts would also not waive an individual’s right to participate in the planning process. Our intention is that bill discounts ensure that those living closest to new electricity transmission infrastructure can directly benefit, in recognition of the wider societal benefits of cheaper, more secure and low-carbon energy that hosting this infrastructure brings. The scope of these measures relates to new and certain significantly upgraded transmission network projects. We are currently proposing that this scheme applies to new onshore, above ground transmission cables and associated infrastructure (e.g. substations) in Great Britain, and certain significantly upgraded projects. 

Our minded to position is that communities living closest to new clean energy transmission infrastructure will receive bill discounts of up to £250 a year for up to 10 years. The scheme will be funded by an obligation on electricity suppliers. By providing those living nearest to new infrastructure with a tangible, direct benefit, we aim to foster greater community support and acceptance.

In 2023, under the previous government, a consultation^{[footnote 2]} and social research^{[footnote 3]} were conducted to better understand community preferences. The social research found that electricity bill discounts were the type of community benefit able to increase acceptance for new transmission infrastructure for the most respondents (78%). The analysis suggests that bill discounts would lead to increased community acceptability – this in turn could help reduce the likelihood of delays caused by opposition to projects and therefore reduce constraint costs in the longer term.

Therefore, the Bill Discount Scheme proposed in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill aims to increase community acceptability of electricity infrastructure and therefore reduce opposition and planning delays. In turn, the bill discount scheme aims to deliver an overall benefit for billpayers due to potential constraint cost savings and the connection of cheaper renewable power.

What will this mean in practice?

The measures included within the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will enable the establishment of a Bill Discount Scheme through regulations, which has the potential to improve community acceptability of new transmission infrastructure. This scheme is vital to the delivery of clean power by 2030 and the government’s growth mission, where boosted acceptability can help mitigate delays for several infrastructure development projects, due to take place in the mid-2020s to early 2030s. The prompt delivery of this pipeline of projects could secure emissions savings, reduce the impact of network constraint costs, and bring down energy costs for the whole of Great Britain.

1. The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero commissioned the Electricity System Operator (now NESO) to estimate constraint costs with a 3-year delay to network build. This analysis was carried out under the previous government. ↩

2. Community benefits for electricity transmission network infrastructure: consultation. ↩

3. Community benefits for electricity transmission network infrastructure, pages 49-50. ↩