Islanders who live near a proposed new nuclear power plant might benefit from lower electricity prices under recommendations from the development’s MP.

Conservative Virginia Crosbie thinks residents in her area should receive discounted electricity if a new nuclear reactor is built on the Welsh island of Anglesey. It would take the place of the decommissioned Wylfa nuclear power facility. She asked Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to back the idea, telling the House of Commons: “The new Wylfa nuclear plant will bring local jobs for local people. Will the Minister consider discounting electricity bills for locals?”

The Government’s energy policy, released earlier this month, included plans for eight additional nuclear facilities, with the goal of generating up to a quarter of the electricity consumed in the United Kingdom by 2050.

It comes on the heels of a huge increase in fuel prices, triggered in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Gas prices in Europe have more than tripled in the last year, while coal costs have more than doubled.

However, five of the UK’s six existing nuclear power facilities are scheduled for closure, with only one new project, Hinkley C in Somerset, now under construction.

The strategy set out plans to begin choosing sites for new plants in 2023, “with the intention that government will enter negotiations with the most credible projects to enable a potential government award of support as soon as possible, including (but not limited to) Wylfa.”

Ms. Crosbie said: “I think discounted electricity bills should be part of a comprehensive package of measures islanders should expect when spades go into the ground at Wylfa.

“There is no doubt there must be a community dividend from having this plant on the island in addition to the huge amount of jobs and investment that it brings.”

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