Britain creates state-owned grid company to compete with private network operators

Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a new publicly owned company, Great British Grid (GB Grid), that will compete with the private firms that own and run Britain's high-voltage transmission network, in a bid to cut costs and shorten long waits for grid connections.

Three companies own Great Britain's onshore transmission network, which operates as a heavily regulated regional monopoly, leaving solar and battery developers that connect at transmission level with no choice of partner. The energy regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), estimates that transmission owners will need to spend up to about £70 billion ($93 billion) on upgrades from 2025 to 2031.

Start-up costs for GB Grid will come from Great British Energy, the state-owned clean power investment vehicle, with a long-term budget left to future spending reviews. The government also plans to let developers and businesses build their own connections in some cases, citing a similar policy in Ireland credited with cutting connection times by up to 11 months, and to speed up competitive tendering for transmission projects.

Earlier reforms removed more than 300 gigawatts of capacity from the connection queue, but long waits continue to slow new generation and demand projects.

Lawrence Slade, chief executive of the Energy Networks Association, said operators are keen to work with the government on lowering costs "whilst maintaining the delivery of the infrastructure the country needs." Jack Pardoe, head of policy at Octopus Energy, called the change "potentially one of the most significant in 40 years."

This brief is based on reporting by Matthew Lynas, published Sept. 29, 2026, in pv magazine. Read the original: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/09/29/publicly-owned-company-gb-grid-announced-in-uk-connections-policy-overhaul/