PM Burnham is expected to announce Great British Grid, a new publicly owned body to invest in and compete for UK electricity grid connection projects

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to announce the creation of Great British Grid, a new publicly owned company, in his first Labour conference speech on 29 September. The body is intended to speed up connections to Britain's electricity transmission grid by introducing competition for connection projects alongside the three private companies that currently own and manage the grid. Funding for Great British Grid is to be drawn from within the existing budget of GB Energy, the public green investment company established by Labour and headquartered in Aberdeen, rather than representing new public spending. The new body would also make it easier for firms waiting to connect to the grid to finance connection infrastructure themselves, with Great British Grid potentially co-investing in those projects. The announcement is framed around a 'cost crisis' in energy that Burnham describes as 'crippling for businesses', with a stated goal of bringing UK energy costs in line with European peers within ten years. Energy regulator Ofgem has estimated that £70 billion of investment is required in the transmission grid between 2025 and 2031, quadrupling the current rate of investment. A recent National Audit Office report warned that the number of projects waiting to connect to the grid had grown significantly while delays were also increasing, providing the political and practical backdrop for the announcement.

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