National Grid plc is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company headquartered in London, England. Its principal activities are in the United Kingdom, where it owns and operates electricity and natural gas transmission networks, and in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...

, where as well as operating transmission networks, the company produces and supplies electricity and gas, providing both to customers in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. National Grid plc is one of the largest investor-owned utility companies in the world; it has a primary listing on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

where it is a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...

, and a secondary listing in the form of its American depositary receipts on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

History

Background (CEGB before 1990)

Before 1990, both the generation and transmission activities in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

were under the responsibility of the

Central Electricity Generating Board The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

(CEGB). The present

electricity market In a broad sense, an electricity market is a system that facilitates the exchange of electricity-related goods and services. During more than a century of evolution of the electric power industry, the economics of the electricity markets had un ...

in the United Kingdom was built upon the breakup of the CEGB into four separate companies in the 1990s. Its generation (or upstream) activities were transferred to three generating companies — PowerGen, National Power, and

Nuclear Electric Nuclear Electric was a nuclear power generation company in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1990 as part of the privatisation process of the UK Electricity Supply Industry. In 1996, it was amalgamated into a new company – British Energy, ...

(later British Energy, eventually EDF Energy)—and its transmission (or downstream) activities to the National Grid Company.

National Grid and acquisitions (1990–1999)

In 1990, the transmission activities of the CEGB were transferred to the National Grid Company plc, which was owned by the twelve regional electricity companies (RECs) through a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, National Grid Group plc. The company was first listed on the

in December 1995.

Expansion and consolidation (2000–2015)

With the beginning of the new millennium, National Grid pursued mergers and acquisitions. In March 2000, National Grid Group acquired New England Electric System and Eastern Utilities Associates. In January 2002, National Grid Group acquired Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, a New York State utility. In October 2002, National Grid Group merged with Lattice Group, owner of the Transco gas distribution business (Lattice had demerged from BG Group in 2000). National Grid Group changed its name to National Grid Transco plc. It sold the telecoms business 186K Ltd. which was acquired as part of the merger with Lattice Group for a nominal £1 to

Hutchison Whampoa Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...

in December 2002. In 2004, the company was found liable for a gas explosion in Transco plc v HM Advocate and subsequently fined £15 million. In August 2004, National Grid Transco agreed to sell four of its regional gas distribution networks for a total cash consideration of £5.8 billion. NGT kept ownership of four other distribution networks, which make up almost half of Great Britain's gas distribution network. In July 2005, National Grid Transco was renamed National Grid plc. On 26 July 2005, National Grid Company was renamed National Grid Electricity Transmission plc, and on 10 October 2005, Transco was renamed National Grid Gas plc. In February 2006, National Grid announced that it had agreed to buy KeySpan Corporation, a gas distributor and electricity producer in the United States, for $7.3bn (£4.1bn) in cash. Around the same time, National Grid also announced the acquisition of New England Gas Company, a Rhode Island subsidiary of

Southern Union Company Southern Union Company was a natural gas utility and energy resources company based in Houston, Texas. In 2012, the company was acquired by Energy Transfer Partners. The company owned and operated more than of gathering and transportation pipel ...

. The acquisitions of the two natural gas delivery companies doubled the size of National Grid's American subsidiary, creating the second largest utility in the United States with more than 8 million customers. The acquisition of KeySpan was completed on 24 August 2007, following government and regulatory approval and endorsement by the shareholders of the two companies. In May 2007, National Grid formed a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with the Dutch transmission operator TenneT for a 1,000 MW

BritNed BritNed is a 1,000MW high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) submarine power cable between the Isle of Grain in Kent, the United Kingdom; and Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The BritNed interconnector would serve as a link for the foreseeabl ...

DC link between the Isle of Grain in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and Maasvlakte, near

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. The installation of the first section of cable link started on 11 September 2009, and the entire cable was completed in October 2010. The interconnection became operational on 1 April 2011, and by January 2012, electricity flow had mostly been from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom.Justin Wilkes et al
''The European offshore wind industry: key 2011 trends and statistics''
European Wind Energy Association, January 2012. p. 22. Accessed: 26 March 2012. The BritNed interconnection would serve as a vital link for the foreseeable

European super grid The European super grid is a possible future super grid that would ultimately interconnect the various European countries and the regions around Europe's borders – including North Africa, Kazakhstan, and Turkey – with a high-voltage ...

project. In the spring of 2011, National Grid sold off its services in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, after their request to increase gas and electric rates was denied.

Since 2015

In November 2015, it was announced that Steve Holliday, the CEO for ten years, would leave in March 2016 and that John Pettigrew, its executive director who joined National Grid twenty five years earlier, would succeed him. In June 2016, the Energy Select Committee argued that the company faced too many conflicts of interest, particularly with regard to its ownership of international interconnectors. The committee proposed that the company should be split up. In December 2016, National Grid agreed to sell a 61% stake in its gas distribution business to a consortium of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets,

Allianz Capital Partners Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. The ...

Hermes Investment Management Hermes Investment Management is an investment management firm providing public and private markets investment strategies and engagement services to institutional and wholesale investors, operating worldwide. Established in 1983 as the principal ...

, CIC Capital Corporation, Qatar Investment Authority, Dalmore Capital and Amber Infrastructure Limited, with a further 14% stake under negotiation. The sale was completed on 31 March 2017, following clearance by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

, and the resulting company was named

Cadent Gas Cadent Gas is a British regional gas distribution company that owns, operates and maintains the largest natural gas distribution network in the United Kingdom, transporting gas to 11 million homes and businesses across North West England, West ...

. In July 2019, National Grid's Electricity System Operator arm, separately from its Electricity Transmission arm, announced its intent to join the

Powering Past Coal Alliance The Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) is a group of 166 countries, cities, regions and organisations aiming to accelerate the fossil-fuel phase out of coal-fired power stations, except the very few which have carbon capture and storage. It ha ...

, furthering its goal of becoming a zero carbon electricity system by 2025. At the time of its announcement, National Grid was the largest energy company based in the United Kingdom to join the alliance, according to publicly available financial figures of 2018. Later in the year, the company moved ownership of its operations in the United Kingdom to Luxembourg and Hong Kong, to protect itself from

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

's nationalisation plans. A spokesman said, "Labour's proposals for state ownership of National Grid would be highly detrimental to millions of ordinary people who either hold shares in the company or through their pension funds." The Labour Party said the "rip off" move showed the grid needed to be in public hands. In March 2021, National Grid announced it intended to purchase Western Power Distribution from

PPL Corporation PPL Corporation is an energy company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. History Pennsylvania Power & Light was founded in 1 ...

for £7.8 billion, and sell its Rhode Island gas and electricity network, Narragansett Electric Company, to PPL for about £2.7 billion. National Grid will also sell its majority ownership of the UK gas transmission business. These transactions are subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Separately, the company is to commence a process to sell a majority stake in its National Grid Gas distribution network.

United Kingdom operations

National Grid plc has a number of subsidiary companies. National Grid Electricity Transmission plc (until 2005, named National Grid Company) owns and operates the National Grid 275kV and 400kV electricity transmission network in England and Wales. Since April 2005, it also operates the electricity transmission network in Scotland, although this network is still owned by Scottish Power and Scottish & Southern Energy. National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) is the transmission system operator, working to balance supply and demand in real time, as well as coordinating markets and auctions which ensure sufficient future supply, and exploring initiatives such as

demand-side response Energy demand management, also known as demand-side management (DSM) or demand-side response (DSR), is the modification of consumer demand for energy through various methods such as financial incentives and behavioral change through education. Us ...

measures to reduce peaks in electricity demand. Rulings by Ofgem in 2017 required the ESO function to be moved to a separate subsidiary, which began trading in April 2019. In 2021, Ofgem called for the creation of a fully independent operator in view of potential conflicts of interest from NG's ownership of the transmission network, and in 2022 the UK government confirmed that a fully independent public body - the Future System Operator, covering electricity and gas - would be established. Other subsidiaries part-own (with RTE) and operate the 2,000 Megawatt HVDC Cross-Channel interconnector to France, and part-own (with TenneT) the 1,000 Megawatt

HVDC A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system (also called a power superhighway or an electrical superhighway) uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating curren ...

interconnector to the Netherlands. National Grid Gas plc (formerly Transco) owns and operates the gas transmission network (from terminals to distributors), known as the National Transmission System (NTS). , the company is in the process of selling a 60% stake in its gas transmission and metering business to a consortium led by Australia's

Macquarie Asset Management Macquarie Group Limited () is an Australian global financial services group. Headquartered and listed in Australia (), Macquarie employs more than 17,000 staff in 33 markets, is the world's largest infrastructure asset manager and Australia's t ...

and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. National Grid Metering maintain an asset base of industrial, commercial and domestic gas meters. National Grid purchased the UK’s largest (by area) electricity distribution business, Western Power Distribution, from American utility company PPL in 2021. Western Power Distribution operates the electricity distribution system within the Midlands, South West and Wales, looking after the 132, 66, 33, 11, 6.6kV and LV networks comprising substations, overhead lines and underground cables. In September 2022, the company was renamed to National Grid Electricity Distribution. National Grid Property Portfolio houses all land, offices and depots used for National Grid operations that are surplus to requirements or let to third parties. National Grid has issued

invitations to tender Invitation or The Invitation may refer to: Films * ''Invitation'' (1952 film), an MGM film starring Dorothy McGuire and Van Johnson * ''The Invitation'' (1973 film), a Swiss film * ''The Invitation'' (2003 film), an American film starring Lance H ...

which include carbon savings as one of the weighted evaluation factors. Development of a replacement sub-station in

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, to be completed in phases between 2018 and 2022, was their first tender to include a weighting on carbon. Laing O’Rourke was awarded the winning bid, having demonstrated plans to reduce carbon emissions by 23% along with a £3m cost saving. Their carbon saving proposal equated to taking 7,600 cars off the road for a year.

United States operations

, National Grid United States operates of electricity transmission and 35,560 miles of gas transmission and delivers electricity and natural gas to areas of the Northeast states of

, and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. The business serves over twenty million customers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York State and is headquartered in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...

in a LEED certified "green" facility. This subsidiary carries out its business through a number of subsidiary companies (all doing business as "National Grid"). The main ones are: * New England Power Company * Massachusetts Electric Company (in Massachusetts) * Nantucket Electric (in Massachusetts) * Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation (in New York State) * KeySpan Corporation (parts of New York City) * Boston Gas Company (including the former Essex Gas Company, in Massachusetts) * Colonial Gas Company (in Massachusetts) * Providence Gas Company (in Rhode Island) * A further subsidiary, Narragansett Electric Company in Rhode Island, was sold to

in March 2021. , National Grid invests over $3.5 billion a year in infrastructure in the United States, having increased its investments into "cleaner, greener technologies" in the previous few years. Examples of projects include an offshore wind farm in Rhode Island, and a battery storage project in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Also in 2019, the company spent $100 million to acquire solar and wind generation from Geronimo Energy, in partnership with Washington State Investment Board.

Controversies

Contract negotiations with Massachusetts gas workers represented by the

United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...

broke down in June 2018, and the company locked out more than 1,000 employees, cutting off healthcare and pay. In November 2019, the company squabbled with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over the company's own moratorium on new natural gas hookups. Cuomo threatened "to revoke the company’s authority to operate its gas franchise in New York City and Long Island, for failing to provide customers with reliable service," according to ''Utility Dive''. Later, in February 2020, it was discovered that the company was constructing a new natural gas transmission line in Brooklyn from Brownsville to Greenpoint. Local activists have pushed back on the project questioning its necessity, safety, additional cost to customers and noting how it will work against the recently enacted New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. In the years 2012 to 2020, National Grid was accused of manipulating energy efficiency programs and overcharging residents of

by approximately US$2.2 million.

References

External links

*
UK site

UK National Grid Property Portfolio

Profile
at Yahoo! Finance {{DEFAULTSORT:National Grid Plc * Energy companies established in 1990 British companies established in 1990 Companies based in London Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Electric power distribution Electric power transmission system operators in the United Kingdom Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom Oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom Utilities of the United Kingdom Energy in New England Energy in New York (state) Hydroelectric power companies of the United States Electric power companies of the United States Natural gas companies of the United States Energy infrastructure on Long Island, New York