To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail the average reinforcement charge required under existing policy, to connect to the electricity grid where the local network is at capacity, for (i) residential properties; and (ii) for commercial premises.

Prior to the decision on Fairer Grid Connection Costs, any consumer requesting a new connection to the electricity grid, where the local network is at capacity, is responsible for paying the full cost of any reinforcement works required. These costs vary significantly depending on location, network condition, and scale of the upgrade.

For domestic customers, reinforcement costs can range from a few thousand pounds for minor upgrades to tens of thousands in rural areas where the network is weaker.

Under that system, domestic customers could face reinforcement costs that are prohibitively high, often exceeding £10,000 in cases requiring substantial line or transformer upgrades.

(ii) For commercial connections, reinforcement costs can vary more widely potentially, running from tens of thousands to several million pounds for large industrial sites requiring significant capacity increases.

These figures reflect the ‘first mover disadvantage’ inherent in the that system, where the first customer triggering reinforcement bore the full cost, allowing subsequent customers to benefit without contributing.