Households could get 25% off energy bills if they back fracking plans

Households could get 25% discount on energy bills if they back local fracking plans

• Firms could offer locals a 25 per cent cut in energy bills if fracking goes ahead
• Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak both indicated they will lift ban on the technology
• UK Onshore Oil and Gas boss said rising costs have ‘changed the conversation’ 
• The controversial technology has sparked protests across the UK and world 

Fracking firms are preparing to offer people a 25 per cent cut in their energy bills if they back drilling sites in their local area.

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak have both indicated they will lift the ban on the controversial technology, which supporters believe could offer a solution to Britain’s energy crisis.

But both Tory leadership candidates have suggested they will allow new drilling to go ahead only in areas where the plans are supported by communities.

Fracking firms are preparing to offer people a 25 per cent cut in their energy bills if they back drilling sites in their local area

Both Tory leadership candidates have suggested they will allow new drilling to go ahead only in areas where the plans are supported by communities

Writing in the Daily Mail last week, Miss Truss confirmed she would end the moratorium on drilling, which has been in place since 2019 due to concerns about earth tremors. 

The leadership frontrunner said there was a need to ‘radically boost our domestic supplies’ of energy, adding: ‘We will end the effective ban on extracting our huge reserves of shale gas by fracking but be led by science, setting out a plan to ensure communities benefit.

‘Fracking will only take place in areas with a clear public consensus behind it.’ 

A campaign source said: ‘We need to get every source of energy going, including fracking.’

Industry boss has said communities that accept a test drilling site will automatically receive £100,000 to spend on their local priorities

IGas, one of five firms involved in the market in the UK, has told the Treasury that UK shale gas could begin entering the market within 12 to 18 months if the Government gets behind the sector

Now the firms involved are drawing up plans to offer people direct financial incentives to support the technology in their area. 

Charles McAllister, director of policy at UK Onshore Oil and Gas, which represents the industry, told the Daily Mail that firms were looking at a range of incentives to encourage communities to embrace the technology.

He said communities that accept a test drilling site will automatically receive £100,000 to spend on their local priorities.

Those that go into production will get a share of total revenues and may also get direct discounts on fuel bills for local people of up to 25 per cent.

Details, such as how close people would have to live to sites to qualify for discounts, are still being finalised.

Mr McAllister said: ‘The Truss and Sunak campaigns are talking about removing VAT or [green] policy support. 

‘Let’s pretend you remove both of them, that’s about £275, maybe £300. 

‘What we’re talking about at prices even before the latest increase is about £811 off your annual bill, which is pretty good – much, much greater than is currently being offered.’

He said soaring energy bills had ‘changed the conversation’ about fracking, which has attracted protests in the past.

Police officers stop anti-fracking protesters attempting to halt a tanker lorry leaving a drill site in Blackpool after fracking operations there recommenced in 2018

‘When energy prices are low, no one thinks about energy – it is just sort of there,’ he said. ‘But the prices now are crazy and everyone is thinking about it.’

Polling conducted for UK Onshore Oil and Gas at the start of the summer suggested that the offer of direct help with energy bills would see support for local fracking rise from 29 per cent to 53 per cent.

IGas, one of five firms involved in the market in the UK, has told the Treasury that UK shale gas could begin entering the market within 12 to 18 months if the Government gets behind the sector.

But Mr McAllister said this would require ‘head to toe support’ including a shake-up of planning red tape which has stymied production to date.

Mr McAllister said shale gas had the potential to make the UK self-sufficient in gas within a decade.

Anti-fracking protesters in California, 2015. Fracking is a controversial process around the world

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