Recommendation 35

Although DESNZ clarified that gas networks will be needed for some considerable time, it accepted that it needed to increase its work to look at future decommissioning. The NAO found that DESNZ’s work on the costs and feasibility of gas network decommissioning was in the initial stages, and its understanding was therefore limited. DESNZ indicated that it had a consultation underway with Ofgem to identify the early issues around decommissioning the gas network.71 Our previous reports have demonstrated that a limited upfront understanding of the costs of decommissioning in other sectors such 63 DHH0050 64 DHH0053 65 DHH0003 66 Q 94; C&AG’s Report, para 2.10 67 Qq 94, 98 68 DHH0036, DHH0046, DHH0050; C&AG’s Report, para 24c 69 DHH0036; C&AG’s Report, paras 12, 2.20 70 Qq 104–105; National Infrastructure Commission, Arup - Future of Great Britain’s gas network, October 2023, p.11 71 Qq 103–103; C&AG’s Report, para 2.20 20 Decarbonising home heating as nuclear and oil and gas have required more taxpayers’ money to meet significant additional costs. In the nuclear sector, for example, taxpayers had to top up the cost of decommissioning seven nuclear stations with £10.7 billion, as existing funds did not keep up with the increased costs.72 Decarbonising power generation