Living Near a New Pylon Line? £250 a Year Off the Electricity Bill Is Planned From 2027, and 43 Projects Are on the First List

The government's Bill Discount Scheme would take £250 a year off the electricity bill of households within 500 metres of new transmission infrastructure, for 10 years. The first 43 projects are named. Payments are expected in the first half of 2027, the law that creates the scheme has not yet been made, and a project only counts once its main construction has started.

Households living close to new electricity pylons, substations and converter stations are due money off their electricity bills under a government scheme announced on 12 August 2026. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero puts the figure at £250 a year for 10 years, or £2,500 in total, for households within 500 metres of new or significantly upgraded transmission infrastructure.

The department has published a first list of 43 projects expected to be in scope. Payments are expected to start in the first half of 2027.

Who is in scope

The scheme is for households near onshore, overground transmission infrastructure built by the transmission operators: overhead lines on pylons, and the substations, converter stations, switching stations and sealing-end compounds that go with them. The onshore parts of subsea links, such as converter stations, are included.

Two conditions sit on every project:

its main construction works must have started, and only once all the necessary consents are in place
construction must have started on or after 10 March 2025

A household near a project still in planning is not yet in scope. The department’s list notes that “some of the projects listed have not received planning consent, or are still going through an appeals process”, and that the scheme “will not influence planning decisions”.

The 43 projects on the first list

England (National Grid Electricity Transmission): Bramford to Twinstead; Norwich to Tilbury; the Eastern Green Link 3 and Eastern Green Link 4 converter stations; the Sea Link converter station; Grimsby to Walpole; North Humber to High Marnham; Brinsworth to High Marnham; Chesterfield to Willington; and the North London Reinforcement.

Wales (National Grid Electricity Transmission): Pentir to Trawsfynydd, in North Wales.

Scotland carries 32 of the 43. SSEN Transmission lists 20 projects across the north, north east and west, including the Spittal to Loch Buidhe to Beauly and Beauly to Peterhead 400 kV overhead lines, the Kintore to Tealing and Tealing to Westfield lines, and substations from Banniskirk to Crarae. SP Energy Networks lists 12 across central and southern Scotland, including Chirmorie, Denny to Wishaw, and Gala North to the Harker area in the Scottish Borders.

No project in Northern Ireland is on the list. The department describes the scheme as one for Britain, and Ofgem, which will run it, regulates the Great Britain market.

The list is a first wave. In the department’s words it “is not an exhaustive list and more projects will be announced as the scheme progresses.”

Most households will not have to apply

The press release says most eligible households “will receive the discount automatically on their electricity bill every 6 months via their energy supplier.” Some may need to apply, and the example it gives is households on commercial meters. Either way, households “can expect to receive further information in the first half of next year, when they will be directly contacted by their energy supplier or Ofgem if they qualify.”

The department’s guidance for households is direct: “If you think you are likely to be eligible for the scheme, you do not need to do anything at this stage.”

The law is not made yet

The scheme rests on secondary legislation under the Planning and Infrastructure Act. The department’s project list says the scheme “is subject to Parliament approving the necessary legislation, which is expected later this year.” When Energy Pages searched legislation.gov.uk on 6 October 2026, no regulations creating it had been published. Until they are, the £250 figure and the 2027 start are the government’s stated plan rather than a legal entitlement.

How many households, and the two figures that do not match

The press release says “hundreds of thousands of homes” are expected to benefit “over the next decade”. The notes at the foot of the same release quote the Impact Assessment of March 2026, which estimated 120,000 to 160,000 households could be eligible from the scheme’s launch out to 2044. The two figures are not the same claim, and the department’s own note says the real number depends on which projects come into scope and where they finally run.

Not to be confused with two other schemes

This is a household bill discount. It is separate from the community funds the transmission operators pay under government guidance of March 2025, which go to local projects rather than to households: £200,000 per kilometre of overhead line and £530,000 per substation, converter station or switching station. It is also unrelated to the Energy Bills Discount Scheme of 2023, which supported business energy bills.

Questions about the scheme go to the department at networksbd@energysecurity.gov.uk. Questions about a particular project go to the transmission operator building it: National Grid Electricity Transmission, SSEN Transmission or SP Energy Networks.

Read at source on 6 October 2026: the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s press release “Households living near new pylons to save thousands on bills” (12 August 2026), its publication “Electricity bill discount scheme for transmission network infrastructure: expected eligible projects” and the attached project list (both 12 August 2026), and a title search of legislation.gov.uk. Scheme rules change; confirm the current position at the official source.