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Britain is setting up a public company to build the electricity grid

Qurexa Editorial Team30 September 20266 min read 0 0
Britain is setting up a public company to build the electricity grid

What happened

On Tuesday 29 September 2026, the government announced a new publicly owned body called Great British Grid. It will sit inside Great British Energy, the state-owned energy company set up to invest in clean power. Where Great British Energy puts public money into generating and storing electricity, Great British Grid will put public money into the wires, cables and substations that move it about. The announcement came with three other changes. First, the government says it is working with NESO, the body that runs the electricity system, and Ofgem, the regulator, to overhaul the queue of projects waiting to connect to the grid. It says more than 300 gigawatts of speculative capacity is being removed from that queue. Second, it will bring forward reforms to expand what are called self-build connections. That means letting developers and businesses build their own connection to the grid, instead of waiting for the network company to do it. The government points to Ireland, where similar reforms cut connection times by up to 11 months. Third, it will speed up competitive tendering for transmission projects, so a wider range of organisations, including Great British Grid itself, can bid to build new network infrastructure. Start-up costs will come out of Great British Energy's existing budget. A longer-term budget will be settled at a future spending review.

Why this matters

We tend to talk about energy as if the hard part were making it. Increasingly, the hard part is moving it. Britain has built a great deal of wind and solar generation, and wants to build more. Much of it is a long way from where the electricity is needed. Meanwhile demand is rising, because heating, transport and industry are all shifting towards electricity. The wires in between have not kept up. The result is a queue. Projects that are ready to build sit waiting for a connection date, sometimes years away. That is true for wind farms, and it is also true for factories, data centres, housing developments and businesses that simply want more power. The government's argument is that this queue is now one of the biggest brakes on growth, not just on clean energy. There is a local angle too. Grid connections are one of the quiet reasons a new employer chooses one town over another. If the wait for power is shorter in one place, that is where the jobs go.

What the evidence actually says

This is an announcement, not a finished thing, and it is worth reading it carefully. Start with what is not changing. The government is explicit that Great British Grid complements existing institutions rather than replacing them. Ofgem remains the independent regulator. NESO remains responsible for operating and planning the system. Existing network operators keep their role, and the government says it does not expect Great British Grid to affect project commitments already agreed under Ofgem licences. So this is not nationalisation of the grid. It is an additional public investor alongside private ones. The figures also need care. The 300 gigawatts being cleared from the connections queue is described as speculative capacity, meaning projects that were holding a place without being likely to be built. Removing them shortens the queue for everyone else. It is not the same as 300 gigawatts of new power arriving. The Irish comparison is the clearest evidence offered, and it is genuinely relevant: a comparable reform elsewhere produced connection times up to 11 months shorter. It is one country and one reform, so it is a reasonable indication rather than a guarantee. The honest gap is money. The government says start-up costs come from Great British Energy's existing budget, and that the long-term budget will be considered at a future spending review. Grid infrastructure has long lead times and very large capital costs. Until that budget is set, the scale of what Great British Grid can actually do is not yet known.

Practical advice

There is not much any of us needs to do this week. But a few things follow. If you run a business that has been waiting for a grid connection, or for more capacity, it is worth asking your network operator where you now sit in the queue. The clearing of speculative projects is happening now, and positions may move. If you are considering a heat pump, an electric vehicle charger or solar panels at home, none of this changes the process for you. Domestic connections are handled differently from large industrial ones. If you follow local planning, expect to see more consultations about pylons, cables and substations over the coming years. Building more network means building visible things in real places. That is where the argument usually lands. And a general point about reading energy announcements: separate the institution from the budget. A new body with a name is easy to announce. What it can build depends on the spending review that follows.

What to know

Great British Grid is a new publicly owned body, announced on 29 September 2026, sitting within Great British Energy. It will invest public money in electricity network infrastructure alongside private investors, and will be able to compete to deliver transmission projects. Alongside it, the government is clearing more than 300 gigawatts of speculative capacity from the connections queue with NESO and Ofgem, expanding self-build connections, and speeding up competitive tendering. It does not replace Ofgem, NESO or the existing network operators. Its start-up costs come from Great British Energy's current budget, and its long-term funding has not yet been set. Sources: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Great British Energy, "Great British Grid to speed up connections and cut bills", 29 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/great-british-grid-to-speed-up-connections-and-cut-bills. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, notes to editors accompanying the same announcement, 29 September 2026. Great British Energy, GOV.UK organisation page, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/great-british-energy. This article is for general information. It is not financial, legal or engineering advice, and it does not replace guidance from your network operator or a qualified professional. If you rely on mains electricity for medical equipment at home, speak to your supplier about the Priority Services Register, and to a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional about any health concern.

#energy#electricity grid#infrastructure#Great British Energy#engineering#net zero

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