The discounts will be introduced in 2026 for energy customers who live within 500 metres of the electrical infrastructure.
Under the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which will be discussed in the House of Commons this week, developers will be legally obliged to fund projects including sports clubs, educational programmes and leisure facilities.
Locals living near the developments could land a discount of £2,500 off their bills over a 10-year period, and the Government said it hopes the benefit will “reduce opposition and planning delays” of the structures being built in rural communities.
The initiative forms part of its ‘Plan for Change’, where, by 2030, the UK will be more reliant on domestic renewable energy as opposed to fossil fuels overseas.
Last year, campaigners protested plans to install 114 miles of pylons between Essex and Norwich, criticising the effect it will have on the countryside.
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To keep the UK on track for its 2030 target, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said “around twice as much” of the “vital” new transmission network will be needed.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the move will improve the living standards of families in the UK “by putting more money back into their pockets”.
‘We owe it to the people of this country’
Rayner added: “We owe it to the people of this country to get Britain building again. It is no longer a question of whether we build the new infrastructure we need, but a question of how, and this must be done in lockstep with local communities.
“This Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill will slash energy bills for local people living near new projects, so they benefit as we drive forward in our mission to achieve a more prosperous and energy secure future for the next generation.”
Dhara Vyas, Energy UK’s chief executive, said: “Much of the country’s energy infrastructure was built several decades ago and designed for a system very different from the one we have today – and the one we will have in future.
“Expanding and upgrading how we transport energy to homes and businesses across the country is long overdue and urgently needed if we are not to choke economic growth with extra costs to customers and delays to new projects and developments that result from outdated infrastructure.”
While those living near the pylons will benefit from cheaper bills, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has confirmed the bills will be offset by higher bills for households elsewhere.
Miliband told the BBC that households not receiving the discount could see energy bills – which will rise by £111 in April – increase by just an extra 80p.
He said: “At the moment, we’re having to switch off offshore wind farms because we haven’t got the transmission infrastructure.
“So everybody benefits from this. Everybody gets lower bills, and those who live near pylons are given a recognition of what they’re doing.”
You can check if your home is close to the proposed pylons being built by searching your postcode on the National Grid’s infrastructure projects page.
