National Grid agrees £20m payout for failures
BBCNational Grid has agreed a £20m payout after admitting failures at a rural substation.
National Grid Electricity Transmission plc (NGET) will pay the settlement into regulator Ofgem's voluntary redress scheme, which supports energy-related projects to protect vulnerable people and reduce carbon emissions.
NGET had admitted historic failures to properly monitor, maintain and repair assets at a substation in Harker, near Carlisle, between 2016 and 2021.
A spokesman for National Grid said repairs and changes to how the company managed assets at the substation were completed by 2022.
The spokesman added: "A major programme of investment at Harker began in 2024 to rebuild and upgrade the entire site, including replacing the existing substations with two new substations adjacent to the current site."
The site serves customers across the North West and connects to the nearby Scottish network.
Ofgem said it had launched an investigation in March 2022, following which NGET accepted failures in maintaining the site, resulting in damage to concrete, exposing steel reinforcement.
This also delayed connection to some electricity generation suppliers, Ofgem said.
Cathryn Scott, Ofgem's regulatory director of enforcement, said the findings had been "concerning".
She added: "Delays and asset failures risk reliability issues which ultimately impact consumers."
