Update: The ‘great grid upgrade’ is off track – ministers should spell out the risks for bills | Nils Pratley

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National Audit Office calls for greater transparency on £70bn programme that is running over budget and behind schedule Speed up electricity grid upgrade or else face higher bills, raises concerns about UK watchdog It’s an open secret in the energy industry that “the great grid upgrade” – the £70bn programme to rewire the nation’s electricity transmission network to enable clean power by 2030 – is running over budget and behind schedule, and may end up costing consumers and businesses more in their bills than advertised. The report also notes that How far behind? How much more? It is impossible to get straight answers from the bodies overseeing the massive spending programme, which may continue at an even greater scale into the 2030s. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz), its in-house body, the National Energy System Operator (Neso), and Ofgem, the supposedly independent regulator, publish acres of information on narrow matters, but none provides a clear big-picture assessment: how is the grid upgrade really going?

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