Great British Grid: Competition Not Nationalisation

Andy Burnham used his first conference speech as Prime Minister to unveil Great British Grid (GBG), “a new branch of Great British Energy” (GBE) and “a publicly-owned company that will challenge the private sector operators”. The government’s announcement is more emollient: GBG is “designed to work alongside existing private sector investors, developers and network operators”, investing public capital alongside private investment and competing for transmission projects. GB Grid takes no existing asset into public ownership.

What has been announced

The Guardian had reported access to a £4bn pot within GBE. The announcement gives no figure: start-up costs come from GBE’s existing budgets, and “the long-term budget for this expanded remit will be considered as part of a future spending review”. Ofgem says over £70bn of transmission investment may be needed by 2031.