National Grid has agreed to pay £20 million to the energy watchdog Ofgem after failing to properly repair and maintain a key substation in Cumbria.
Ofgem stated that National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET) admitted breaching its licence terms at the Harker substation, near Carlisle, between November 2016 and November 2021.
These breaches included failing to properly monitor, maintain, and repair civil assets, or to plan and resource remediation works at the Harker site.
The substation serves customers in the North West, is a key part of the Anglo-Scottish network, and supports renewable energy generators looking to connect.
The FTSE 100 listed company, which runs much of Britain’s electricity grid, will direct the payment into Ofgem’s energy industry voluntary redress scheme, supporting vulnerable customers.
Cathryn Scott, Ofgem’s regulatory director of market oversight and enforcement, said: “Delays and asset failures risk reliability issues, which ultimately impact consumers.
“This has been a complex and detailed investigation and it was concerning that NGET failed to adequately monitor, maintain and repair some civil assets at Harker 132kV substation during the period being investigated.
“It is right that NGET has accepted its failings at this substation.”
NGET has since carried out repairs at Harker in 2022.
Ofgem said the Harker substation is being rebuilt and extended as part of the Harker Energy Enablement project, which it said would increase capacity between Scotland and England and “prepare the network for future demand, including renewable and storage connections”.
A National Grid spokesperson said: “Repairs at the substation and changes to how we manage these assets were complete by 2022.
“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.”
