Autumn Statement: Jeremy Hunt to announce money off bills for homes near new pylons

Households living close to new pylons and electricity substations could receive up to £1,000 a year off energy bills for a decade under plans to be outlined by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

The UK needs a massive upgrade of its electricity network - partly to enable thousands of vehicle charging points.

But projects are often caught up in red tape as local people file objections when planning permission is sought.

Mr Hunt will deliver his Autumn Statement on Wednesday.

He and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are currently finalising the content of the statement, which will set out the priorities for government spending in the final year before a general election has to be held.

But the Treasury has indicated that the pounds-for-pylons plan will definitely form part of the statement, although it declined to say who would be paying for the discounts, or offer any information on how close houses would have to be to qualify for the maximum payout.

A spokesman said: "By speeding up the planning system - including the rollout of electric vehicle charge-points - we will be tackling one of the most common issues raised by businesses who are keen to invest in the UK."

Under the plan, nationally significant low-carbon energy infrastructure will be designated as a "critical national priority", to underline its importance to local planning officers who are required to approve to building projects.

Matt Copeland, head of policy at the National Energy Action campaign to eradicate fuel poverty, said: "It's only right that those affected by pylons are compensated - but this is not a substitute for the UK government supporting vulnerable people with their sky-high energy bills."

Earlier this summer, a government-commissioned report recommended the idea of simply smoothing the path for the building of new large pylons by handing over cash to those who would be affected.

Nick Winser, the former chief executive of the National Grid, said a radical solution was needed to streamline the planning process and his report said people living near newly-built transmission pylons, the larger lines that connect electricity from where it is generated to regional substations, should get lump sum payments.

He pointed out that the cost of compensation would be lower than building cables underground and much cheaper than resorting to offshore cables.

The three companies that maintain the transmission grid in Great Britain - National Grid in England and Wales, and Scottish Power and SSE in Scotland - do not currently offer any payments to households.

But in the Republic of Ireland, people in rural areas living within 200m of a new overhead line or transmission station qualify for payments of between €2,000 and €30,000 from EirGrid, the state-owned operator, depending on how close they are and the capacity of the line.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney said: "This scheme would create a postcode lottery system leaving millions of families still facing higher energy bills while others benefit."

And Labour's shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, said the government was "out of ideas" after "13 years of Tory economic failure".