Burnham to Unveil State-Owned ‘Great British Grid’ to Cut Energy Costs

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will use his first Labour Party conference speech on Tuesday to announce a new publicly owned energy body, Great British Grid, in a push to bring down Britain’s stubbornly high energy costs.

The new body will sit within Great British Energy, the state-backed energy company, and will be charged with overhauling what ministers have described as a ‘broken’ energy market. According to a party statement issued on Monday, GB Grid would speed up grid connections for businesses, boost competition and support the government’s drive to reindustrialise Britain.

Burnham will also set a target of bringing British energy costs into line with those of other European countries within ten years. Firms stuck waiting for grid connections would be allowed to build the infrastructure themselves rather than queueing for years, according to reports.

The announcement marks the first major step in Burnham’s pledge to bring essential services back into public control. He has argued that Britain took ‘a series of wrong turns’ in the 1980s when the Conservatives privatised core utilities, and has said essentials like energy should serve people rather than shareholders.

The move comes as the government prepares for November’s Budget, the first from new Chancellor John Healey, with ministers seeking to balance growth, the cost of living and a record tax burden.

Sources

• Reuters — UK PM Burnham to launch state-owned GB Grid to cut energy costs, speed connections
• Brit Brief — Burnham to unveil publicly-owned Great British Grid to fix ‘broken’ energy market
• LabourList — Andy Burnham: ‘We’ll build a new Britain’