National Grid: We’re not averse to competition

National Grid’s president of UK strategic infrastructure has told Utility Week the organisation would “not stand in the way” of competition in electricity transmission, as he unveiled a new approach to engaging consumers on the “Great Grid Upgrade”.

Last month Octopus Energy chief executive Greg Jackson expressed his frustration at the monopolistic nature of the transmission system, saying: “The thing that we would most love would be some form of contestability.”

Carl Trowell, who joined National Grid in February to head up a new business unit tasked with rolling out major transmission projects, told Utility Week there are areas where competition would make sense but warned of the consequences of acting in haste.

Trowell was speaking to Utility Week as National Grid unveiled a new engagement campaign, which highlights the benefits to consumers of the projects being overseen by the new business unit. These are the 17 schemes being rolled out in England & Wales under Ofgem’s Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework.

He acknowledged that the scope and scale of what will be required over the next couple of decades meant competition could make sense.

However, he cautioned: “You have to take into consideration that it is an integrated system. If someone built a competitive element on the onshore grid, it has to then network with the rest of the grid, so you have to have some coordinating role.”

He added: “Just allowing free market competition to decide how and when it plugs into the network is going to cause very serious issues.

“Our view is that is there is a drive to try and see where competition is possible. It may actually be a good way to help deliver some of the programme. We’re not against it. But we do think it has to be done carefully because of that integrated grid and there are areas that lend themselves better than others.”

Connecting the dots

Trowell insisted National Grid was well aware of the need to do things differently in order to quicken the pace of the net-zero transmission, hence the creation of the new business unit. This has been coupled by a focus on communicating the importance of upgrading the grid to people’s everyday lives.

The new engagement campaign links these huge infrastructure projects to the more mundane but relatable uses of electricity around the home, whether boiling a kettle or blowdrying hair.

The former chief executive of marine infrastructure specialist Acteon said: “Awareness of renewables has grown a lot but understanding how you connect from an offshore wind farm down to someone’s home and what that means for them in terms of their lifestyle is something we felt was missing.”

While consumers across the country will be impacted by the energy transition, there will be areas were it is particularly visible. Trowell stressed that these communities hosting the infrastructure must be properly consulted and be able to see the benefit. He added: “These communities should have a say about what is a meaningful benefit to them, rather than someone sitting in an office somewhere deciding for them.”

Trowell also spoke about the need for planning and regulation to evolve to support the rollout of transmission infrastructure. He welcomed Ofgem’s introduction of ASTI and the debate about whether this framework could provide a model for the next price control. However, he warned against seeing RIIO3 as the earliest opportunity for change.

“We all have to recognize that there are projects ongoing now, or will need to start before we get to whatever RIIO3 looks like. So the idea that everything can be held out till that is done is maybe something we need to discuss.

“What ASTI does is provide us with the broad framework to be able to be to start making the full commitment to deliver. What we will now need to do is come up with some refinement of that model that matches the needs of what we actually have to do. It’s very possible that other projects will come before we get to RIIO3 that might need to be added, whether we do them or someone else does that.

“And so the question is whether there’s a framework for them. Can everything wait until RIIO3 or do we need to do something sooner?”