Did the authorities cover up just how close Britain came to power blackouts in June?
Britain’s rush towards renewables is making it harder to keep the lights on – and the engineers sounding the alarm say bosses would rather hear that “everything’s fine”.
An investigation into the National Energy System Operator (Neso) identified a culture favouring good news and concerns that emergency warnings could generate bad publicity. It followed an incident in June that whistleblowers said brought Britain close to blackouts.
Reform UK Shadow Secretary for Business, Trade and Energy Richard Tice said that the whistleblowers had delivered “an absolutely damning warning about the state of Britain’s energy policy”, telling Reform Daily: “You cannot run a modern economy on wishful thinking.”
The investigation, conducted by law firm Eversheds Sutherland and reported by The Times, uncovered “high levels of stress and concern” among control room staff about maintaining electricity supplies as Britain becomes increasingly dependent on renewables.
It highlighted “the challenges of the Net Zero transition and increased reliance on renewables, which are less flexible than conventional generation”.
Electricity supply and demand must remain balanced to avoid blackouts. Yet engineers cannot directly instruct many smaller generators and batteries, leaving them to estimate their output.
During the heatwave in June this year, the grid’s frequency fell below normal operational limits for a sustained period – something that could have led to blackouts. Witnesses described five “safety boundaries” being breached, despite Neso publicly insisting that the system had not been “at risk”.
One witness believed further emergency warnings were withheld because of the “optics”. Others described pressure to deliver positive messages, with one saying staff who raised concerns “get beaten down”.
Britain’s rush towards renewables is making it harder to keep the lights on – and the engineers sounding the alarm say bosses would rather hear that “everything’s fine”.
An investigation into the National Energy System Operator (Neso) identified a culture favouring good news and concerns that emergency warnings could generate bad publicity. It followed an incident in June that whistleblowers said brought Britain close to blackouts.
Reform UK Shadow Secretary for Business, Trade and Energy Richard Tice said that the whistleblowers had delivered “an absolutely damning warning about the state of Britain’s energy policy”, telling Reform Daily: “You cannot run a modern economy on wishful thinking.”
The investigation, conducted by law firm Eversheds Sutherland and reported by The Times, uncovered “high levels of stress and concern” among control room staff about maintaining electricity supplies as Britain becomes increasingly dependent on renewables.
It highlighted “the challenges of the Net Zero transition and increased reliance on renewables, which are less flexible than conventional generation”.
Electricity supply and demand must remain balanced to avoid blackouts. Yet engineers cannot directly instruct many smaller generators and batteries, leaving them to estimate their output.
During the heatwave in June this year, the grid’s frequency fell below normal operational limits for a sustained period – something that could have led to blackouts. Witnesses described five “safety boundaries” being breached, despite Neso publicly insisting that the system had not been “at risk”.
One witness believed further emergency warnings were withheld because of the “optics”. Others described pressure to deliver positive messages, with one saying staff who raised concerns “get beaten down”.
Stop treating ideological targets as more important than keeping the lights on
Tice warned: “Engineers responsible for keeping the lights on are raising serious concerns about the impact of Labour’s rush to Net Zero, yet their warnings risk being overshadowed by political pressure to present everything as fine.”
But Tice has also challenged the report’s conclusions. In a letter to energy minister Michael Shanks, he accused the investigators of accepting management’s explanations too readily.
“The conclusions are constructed to handwave away any allegations of wrongdoing, and yet the evidence on which they are supposedly based does not support them in the slightest”, he wrote.
He called the report a “deliberate attempt to whitewash the allegations raised by the whistleblower” and demanded that Neso’s management give evidence to the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee.
Neso chairman Paul Golby said the board would urgently address the report’s findings. Shanks also demanded action on cultural shortcomings.
Tice urged the government to “put energy security first, listen to those on the front line and stop treating ideological targets as more important than keeping the lights on”.
A Reform government would scrap Net Zero policies and associated subsidies, develop domestic oil and gas resources and accelerate nuclear power, aiming to deliver more reliable and affordable electricity.
But Tice has also challenged the report’s conclusions. In a letter to energy minister Michael Shanks, he accused the investigators of accepting management’s explanations too readily.
“The conclusions are constructed to handwave away any allegations of wrongdoing, and yet the evidence on which they are supposedly based does not support them in the slightest”, he wrote.
He called the report a “deliberate attempt to whitewash the allegations raised by the whistleblower” and demanded that Neso’s management give evidence to the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee.
Neso chairman Paul Golby said the board would urgently address the report’s findings. Shanks also demanded action on cultural shortcomings.
Tice urged the government to “put energy security first, listen to those on the front line and stop treating ideological targets as more important than keeping the lights on”.
A Reform government would scrap Net Zero policies and associated subsidies, develop domestic oil and gas resources and accelerate nuclear power, aiming to deliver more reliable and affordable electricity.
