Recommendation 14

The Department told us it expects around three quarters of the allocation of financial support of almost £22 billion will be from levies on consumers (such as those using power generated by the Net Zero Teesside project).46 The remaining 25% will come from the Exchequer.47 However, the Department does not yet know the precise balance of funding between the consumer and taxpayer as this will depend on the final terms of the contracts it signs with projects.48 And uncertainty remains around the funding available 37 Q 72 38 Q 73 39 Q 74 40 C&AG’s Report, para 3.16 41 Qq 73 42 Qq 73 43 Qq 1, 17 44 Q 1 45 Q 1 46 Q 17 47 Q 17 48 Q 17 13 for future stages of the CCUS programme.49 Regardless of whether the programme is taxpayer or consumer funded, the cost of the programmes is “a cost to the country”.50