29th September 2026
Britain has a strange energy problem.
We produce large quantities of renewable electricity, yet households and businesses continue to face some of the highest energy costs in Europe.
Now Prime Minister Andy Burnham is proposing a new publicly owned organisation, Great British Grid, which he says could help change that.
The organisation will sit within Great British Energy and will have access to up to £4 billion from money already allocated to Great British Energy. It is intended to invest in electricity-network infrastructure, speed up connections and help get renewable electricity projects connected to the grid more quickly.
Burnham is also setting a much broader target.
He wants Britain's energy costs to be in line with those of other European countries within 10 years.
That is an ambitious objective.
But the interesting question for households is whether creating another publicly owned organisation can actually reduce electricity bills.
The grid is part of the problem
Britain's electricity system has changed dramatically.
The country is moving from a system based heavily on large power stations towards one containing wind farms, solar generation, battery storage and other forms of distributed generation.
But generating electricity is only part of the problem.
It also has to get from where it is generated to where it is needed.
Businesses have complained about lengthy waits to obtain grid connections. Burnham's government says GB Grid will help tackle that problem, while giving businesses more scope to build their own connections. Officials say a similar approach in Ireland has cut connection times by 11 months.
If that works, it could have wider economic consequences.
A factory waiting years for an electricity connection cannot expand.
A housing development waiting for infrastructure cannot proceed.
A renewable-energy project that cannot connect to the grid cannot supply consumers.
So speeding up the grid could potentially help economic growth as well as the energy system.
But £4 billion isn't £4 billion off household bills
This is an important distinction.
The £4 billion is not a pot of money that will simply be divided among households to reduce their electricity bills.
It is intended for investment in infrastructure.
The hope is that better infrastructure eventually produces a more efficient electricity system, encourages competition and helps bring down costs.
That means the benefit, if it materialises, is likely to take years rather than appear on the next electricity bill.
Burnham himself is talking about a 10-year objective, not an immediate reduction in household bills.
There is also a question about existing companies
The electricity network is not simply a single organisation.
There are already major privately owned companies operating within the system.
GB Grid would therefore become a new publicly owned participant rather than simply taking the existing network into public ownership.
That distinction matters.
The proposal is not the same as nationalising Britain's electricity networks.
Instead, the Government would use public money to create a public competitor and investor in infrastructure.
Whether that eventually produces lower costs will depend on how effectively the organisation operates and how the wider electricity market is reformed.
The big question is what customers eventually pay
For Caithness and the wider Highlands, there is another important dimension.
Scotland has enormous renewable-energy potential, but generation alone does not guarantee cheap electricity for local households.
The infrastructure required to transport electricity is enormously expensive.
There are also questions about who pays for new transmission infrastructure and how the costs are ultimately reflected in bills.
Burnham's argument is that the existing system gives too much power to markets and private interests and that greater public involvement can produce a more functional system. His Government says GB Grid is intended to support reindustrialisation, improve competition and drive down bills.
Those are objectives rather than guaranteed outcomes.
The real test will be whether the investment eventually produces something households can actually see on their bills.
Ten years is a long time for someone paying today's bill
A family struggling with an electricity bill this winter cannot wait until 2036 for the energy system to become cheaper.
That is the political and economic difficulty facing Burnham.
Long-term infrastructure investment may be necessary, but households also need help with today's prices.
The Government's proposal therefore raises two separate questions.
Can Britain build a cheaper and more efficient electricity system over the next decade?
And:
What can be done about the bills people are receiving now?
The first question is largely about infrastructure.
The second is about household finances.
GB Grid may eventually help with the first.
Whether it can make a meaningful difference to the second will depend on what else the Government does.
For households, the £4 billion announcement is therefore worth watching.
But it should not be confused with a £4 billion reduction in energy bills.
The money is intended to build the infrastructure that Burnham hopes will eventually make Britain's energy system cheaper.
The interesting part will be whether that promise becomes reality.