16:30 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Amanda Solloway)

This statutory instrument amends the Electricity Supplier Obligations (Amendment and Excluded Electricity) Regulations 2015. The existing legislation supports the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries by providing for a scheme exempting eligible businesses from a proportion of the costs of funding renewable electricity. These are costs associated with funding the renewables obligation, contracts for difference and the small-scale feed-in tariff schemes. The costs associated with those schemes are passed on by electricity suppliers through their electricity bills, and they have a particularly high impact on foundation industries such as steel, paper, chemicals and cement, which are critical to many infrastructure projects and provide well paid, highly skilled jobs across the United Kingdom. As foundation industries, these businesses are critical in the development of new projects, including offshore wind, and therefore play an important role in the transition to net zero.

[Source]