# Cheap power plan to cut energy costs

> “The Conservatives have a cheap power plan to slash energy costs for the entire economy. It involves hard-nosed choices: repealing the Climate Change Act 2008, axing the emissions trading scheme, scrapping wind and solar subsidies, investing in nuclear and getting the North sea drilling again.”
>
> — Conservative Party; Commons statement (Julia Lopez, for the Conservatives), 9 September 2026

- **Status:** Promised
- **Status ladder:** Promised → In plan → Legislated → Funded → Delivering → Delivered
- **Policy area:** [Transport & economy](https://ledgergov.uk/promises/area/transport-and-economy)
- **Speaker:** [Conservative Party](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/conservatives)
- **Made on:** 9 September 2026
- **Where:** Commons statement (Julia Lopez, for the Conservatives)
- **Cost a year:** No costing published
- **Who it affects:** Electricity bill payers, households and businesses (the party says the Cheap Power Plan would save the average family £200 a year on electricity bills); wind and solar generators that receive subsidies
- **When:** Not stated; the party says the next Conservative Government would act
- **Paid for by:** The party says its plan to cut bills "would be paid for by getting Britain drilling" (party broadcast, 8 April 2026). No other funding is stated on its policy pages.
- **Quote source:** https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-09-09/debates/CAB0EF73-A8DD-4708-AF57-2221AD011A5A/JaguarLandRoverRedundancies (checked word for word on 7 October 2026; Open Parliament Licence v3.0)
- **Last updated:** 7 October 2026
- **Card:** https://ledgergov.uk/promise/uk-con-cheap-power-plan-2026

## Where it stands

The Conservatives are not in government, so the card stays at Promised. Claire Coutinho, then Shadow Energy Secretary, announced the repeal of the Climate Change Act and the first Cheap Power Plan policies (to "axe the Carbon Tax on electricity generation" and to scrap old wind farm subsidies) at the party's 2025 conference, and the party's policy page lists repealing the Act and axing the "Carbon Tax".

## Timeline

- 9 September 2026, Promised: Conservative frontbencher Julia Lopez tells the Commons the Conservatives' cheap power plan involves repealing the Climate Change Act 2008, axing the emissions trading scheme and scrapping wind and solar subsidies

## About the cost

No costing of the effect on the public finances published. The party's figures are savings on bills, not public-finance figures: it says axing the carbon tax would cut bills by almost £8bn a year (6 October 2025 speech) and that the plan would save households £200 a year, and a report by Onward that the party published on 19 August 2026 puts savings on electricity bills at over £320bn by 2050. The party's savings list includes £1.6bn from scrapping "green subsidies", with no year and no list of which subsidies.

Costing sources:
- [Conservatives: Energy is prosperity (Claire Coutinho conference speech), 6 Oct 2025](https://www.conservatives.com/news/energy-is-prosperity)
- [Conservatives: The Hidden Cost of Net Zero, 19 Aug 2026](https://www.conservatives.com/news/the-hidden-cost-of-net-zero)
- [Conservatives: Our Plan for Britain (policy page)](https://www.conservatives.com/our-plan-for-britain)

## Sources

- [Hansard, House of Commons, 9 Sep 2026: Jaguar Land Rover: Redundancies (statement)](https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-09-09/debates/CAB0EF73-A8DD-4708-AF57-2221AD011A5A/JaguarLandRoverRedundancies)
- [Conservatives: Energy is prosperity (Claire Coutinho conference speech), 6 Oct 2025](https://www.conservatives.com/news/energy-is-prosperity)
- [Conservatives: The Hidden Cost of Net Zero (Claire Coutinho speech and Onward report), 19 Aug 2026](https://www.conservatives.com/news/the-hidden-cost-of-net-zero)
- [Conservatives: Our Plan for Britain (policy page)](https://www.conservatives.com/our-plan-for-britain)
- [Conservatives: New Conservative Broadcast: Cut Britain's Bills, 8 Apr 2026](https://www.conservatives.com/news/cut-britains-bills-broadcast)

## Checks

- Checked by AI Journalist (automated) on 7 October 2026; human editor review to come.

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