Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and UK Infrastructure Bank, Sizewell C Financial Investment Decision scheme

The proposed scheme is valued in the hundreds of millions (with its specific value being omitted from the report under the Enterprise Act 2002).
The project is majority owned by the UK Government (UKG) and EDF and it relates to Sizewell C’s Financial Investment Decision (FID).
Our key takeaways from the Subsidy Advice Unit (SAU) report are:
- Assessments should have described in detail:
  - how the subsidy’s components are appropriate to the scheme and any non-subsidy alternatives they considered for these means;
  - whether the assessment of proportionality is impacted following the completion of any private capital raise processes; and
  - how distortion can occur due to individual elements of the scheme as well as the project as a whole.
- The Assessment had made use of an externally commissioned report to highlight potential distortions. Where external reports are used, Assessments can benefit from flagging the scope and limitations of such report and how any recommendations from it have been actioned.
- Further consideration will be needed in this instance due to developments made after the Assessment was made such as the general election announcement and the details of the categories of subsidy which made me made to beneficiaries (i.e. the terms, conditions and eligibility criteria and their impact).