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<p>BEIS publishes statistics on international energy price comparisons[1]. These show
that for the UK, industrial gas prices are among the lowest in the EU-15 but industrial
electricity prices have risen to be the most expensive for large and extra-large users
of electricity.</p><p>The Government is committed to minimising energy costs for businesses
to ensure our economy remains strong and competitive. Higher industrial electricity
prices in the UK partly reflect how the costs of the electricity system are distributed
across household and industrial customers. For example, while very large German industrial
users pay electricity prices that are lower than those in the UK, German households
faced electricity prices that were 68 per cent higher than UK households in 2017.</p><p>In
his recent energy speech, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out the importance
of a fair distribution of costs and the principles that are intended to deliver policies
that will lower the costs of the electricity system permanently. Further details will
be set out in a White Paper this year.</p><p>The Budget on 29 October 2018 announced
that £315 million is being provided for an Industrial Energy Transformation Fund to
support industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects to bring energy
costs down for vital industries, including the steel sector.</p><p>The Government
also continues to reduce the cumulative impact of energy and climate change policies
on industrial electricity prices for key energy intensive industries. This includes
a package of relief for these industries worth over £850 million since 2013, reducing
the indirect cost of energy and climate change policies on their energy bills by up
to 80 per cent.</p><p> </p><p>[1] <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/international-industrial-energy-prices"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/international-industrial-energy-prices</a></p>
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