10 Years: Andy Burnham's Target to Cut UK Energy Costs

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will announce a new publicly owned company, branded Great British Grid, to invest in Britain's electricity transmission network, according to comments previewed ahead of his first Labour Party conference speech as prime minister on Tuesday in Liverpool, the BBC reported.

What is Great British Grid?

Great British Grid, or GB Grid, is described by Labour as a publicly owned company that will invest in and compete for transmission connection projects, the BBC reported. Burnham is expected to say the body will drive up competition for connection work and speed up how quickly homes and businesses can be hooked up to the grid. He is expected to tell activists he wants an "honest conversation" with the public and to take on "difficult issues" that have been ignored for too long, according to the BBC. The announcement follows Burnham's summer leadership pitch, in which greater public control of utilities was a central theme.

How would the new body actually work?

Full details have not yet been set out, but Labour said GB Grid would invest in and compete for transmission connection projects alongside the three private companies that currently own and manage Britain's grid, the BBC reported. The party also said it would make it easier for firms waiting to connect to finance that infrastructure themselves, with GB Grid supporting and potentially co-investing in those projects. Funding for the new body will come from within the existing budget of GB Energy, the public green investment company Labour set up last year and which is now headquartered in Aberdeen, according to the BBC.

Why is the grid under this much strain?

Britain's transmission network is aging and was built largely to move power from centralized fossil-fuel stations, not the remote locations used for offshore wind and other renewables, the BBC reported. Energy regulator Ofgem has estimated £70 billion in grid investment is required between 2025 and 2031, roughly quadrupling the current rate of spending, according to the BBC. A National Audit Office report published earlier this month found the number of projects waiting to connect to the grid had grown "significantly," while delays to those projects were also increasing, the BBC reported.

What is Burnham's ten-year target?

Burnham is expected to set a goal of bringing UK energy costs in line with other European nations within ten years, according to the BBC. He is expected to argue that faster grid connections could help fix a "cost crisis" in energy that has proved "crippling for businesses." Part of the UK's elevated prices stems from state subsidies paid to private companies to modernize the grid for new wind and solar generation, costs that are ultimately passed on to customer bills, the BBC reported.

What are critics saying?

Conservative shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie said the prime minister wants to "nationalise the network." "The Conservatives would get out of the way, letting businesses build their own gas power and grid connections and bid openly for capacity, and cutting electricity costs for every business through our Cheap Power Plan," Bowie said, according to the BBC. His comments frame the coming debate over GB Grid: whether a state-backed competitor to the existing three grid operators speeds up connections and lowers bills, or whether it adds a layer of public bureaucracy to a system Conservatives argue should be opened further to private capacity bids.

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