Ofgem has been named as the administrator for the Bill Discount Scheme, which will give households that live near new electricity transmission infrastructure electricity bill discounts of up to £250 per year.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) aims to lay regulations to implement the scheme in Summer 2026, with first payments due to households in early 2027. Ofgem’s role is to ensure the payments reach eligible households within the scheme timescales. Ofgem has said that an Administration Consultation on the delivery of the scheme will be published by July and will run for six weeks. It will seek views on key aspects of Ofgem’s plans, including identifying eligibility of households and setting up delivery mechanisms and compliance arrangements.
The government intends for this scheme to offer the electricity bill discounts, of up to £250 a year for 10 years, to households living within 500m of new or significantly upgraded electricity transmission network infrastructure. It will be funded by an obligation on electricity suppliers who can pass the costs on via customer bills.
In a consultation response in March, DESNZ said “We are conscious that this is a novel scheme; we plan to hold 2 review points within the first 5 years of delivery to gain a detailed understanding of the scheme’s roll-out, which will be informed by monitoring and evaluation activity”.
DESNZ declined to exclude second homes from the discount, saying it was “too administratively complex to exclude them” and they could not be identified. However, it said “we intend to continue exploring the feasibility of developing and introducing an exclusion once the scheme has launched”.