SSE PLC

Britain's electricity network will require up to £240bn of upgrades to support clean power targets, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has admitted. Will Lochhead, a deputy director at the department, told a conference that meeting a more than doubling of electricity demand by 2050 would require between £100bn and £240bn of investment in the electricity network. The energy department had previously warned that grid upgrades would cost £80bn by 2030, but the latest forecasts indicate a much larger programme with costs loaded onto consumers' energy bills through monopoly transmission operators National Grid, SSE and Scottish Power. National Grid's David Adkins said transmission investment plans across Great Britain total £77bn by 2031, with National Grid delivering about £35bn of that, and that a similar scale of investment would be needed beyond 2030. The estimates have drawn political criticism, with Reform UK's Richard Tice calling the costs a dud and shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho saying the focus should be on making electricity as cheap as possible.