Consumers face rising energy bills without urgent upgrades to the nation’s electricity grid designed to help it accommodate more renewables, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said.
In a report, the body said that the grid cannot carry enough electricity “from where it is produced to where it is needed” forcing the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to keep supply and demand in balance by effectively paying wind farms to turn off and gas plants to turn on.
These payments, known as constraint costs, ultimately hike up household energy bills. In the 2025-26 financial year these totalled around £1.9bn, an already hefty sum that could increase to £7.8bn by 2030 without concerted action from NESO, the NAO said.
Ofgem estimates that £70bn of investment is required in the grid between 2025 and 2031 which is already expected to increase the network charges consumers pay by £60 by 2030. Nevertheless, it will also save them £30 overall compared to the increased constraint costs if projects are...