In his first speech as Prime Minister at the Labour Party conference, Andy Burnham announced the establishment of Great British Grid (GBG), a new publicly owned company intended to transform the delivery of electricity infrastructure, accelerate grid connections and bring energy costs in line with the rest of Europe within ten years.

While there’s some scepticism over how it will work, the proposal recognises that the current system is oversubscribed and needs change. It also shows intent to tackle the infrastructure constraints that could otherwise hold back investment and the shift to a renewables-led energy system.

Why is this necessary?

Renewable generation is being built far from where electricity is used, and the network hasn’t kept pace.

Scotland uses around 8% of Britain's electricity but produces 19% of its total generation and 37% of its wind output, so the surplus generation must travel south to fulfil demand in England and Wales.

Network capacity to move power across the border is limited to only two cables, creating what’s known as the B6 boundary bottleneck. Costs associated with managing this have averaged around £800,000 a day so far in 2026/27, double the cost realised in 2025/26. Bill payers carry this cost, and it comes from network development failing to bridge the gap between where we generate and where we consume electricity.

Secondly, demand for connections continues to outpace network development. According to Ofgem, contracted demand in the connections queue rose from 41 GW to 125 GW between November 2024 and June 2025. That’s roughly 2.7 times the UK's 2025 peak demand, showing the pressure on the system to deliver grid connections with a high capacity of economy-driving projects left stranded in the connection queue. 

Co-investment and competition

GBG appears set to tackle slow network development by investing alongside the private sector and competing to deliver works, offering another route to delivering infrastructure. It could lower costs through cheaper capital and provoke competition by bidding for projects.

The timing is favourable as networks are moving away from building only in response to individual connection applications and are starting to plan network growth strategically. GBG could make a difference by committing investment and securing supply chains early.

Delivery constraints remain

A new body will not, by itself, overcome supply chain constraints, skills shortages, planning delays, or the complexity of land rights and community engagement. GBG needs specialists, contractors and equipment. If it simply takes these from existing network owners, individual projects may benefit without the sector’s capacity growing. It needs to be clear how it will add resources rather than spread already stretched ones more thinly.

Questions also remain about how it will work alongside the network owners that cover the regions, particularly in Scotland. Will it compete for projects, invest jointly with existing operators, or focus on infrastructure outside their current plans?

The capacity test

The opportunity is significant, but GBG must find its place alongside the network owners, Ofgem as regulator, and NESO as system planner. Ofgem has built expertise in regulating network owners to drive network development, although not at the pace or scale required.

If the proposals expand the sector's overall ability to deliver, it could unlock investment, accelerate connections and support a more strategically planned network. If it competes already stretched resources, it may change who builds Britain's infrastructure without changing how quickly it gets built.

Further information

Contact Sam Nicole or Kyle Rarick

Power Perspectives: GB electricity demand connections