{"id":808298,"date":"2026-10-20T05:40:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/808298\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T05:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T05:40:21","slug":"concerning-issues-found-at-gb-power-grid-by-inquiry-into-cover-up-claims-energy-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/808298\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Concerning issues\u2019 found at GB power grid by inquiry into cover-up claims | Energy industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent investigators have found significant and concerning \u201ccultural issues\u201d at Great Britain\u2019s grid operator after control room staff accused senior executives of covering up the extent of blackout risks in the UK during the June heatwave.<\/p>\n

An external legal firm tasked with investigating a series of whistleblower allegations against the National Energy System Operator (Neso) raised concerns over how high levels stress among control room engineers was handled by the company.<\/p>\n

The three-month investigation began after whistleblowers accused Neso of a cover-up over the growing risk of blackouts<\/a>. They claimed the grid was becoming increasingly unmanageable, and that control room decisions were subject to \u201cinterference\u201d by the company\u2019s corporate affairs team to protect the reputation of the government-owned operator.<\/p>\n

The unprecedented control room revolt<\/a> included multiple internal complaints, the leak of internal documents to the press, and accusations of whistleblower intimidation.<\/p>\n

Neso was forced to abandon plans for an internal investigation into the claims in favour of an independent investigation by the law firm Evershed Sutherlands, whose findings were published on Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The law firm said that while it found \u201cno evidence\u201d of inappropriate influence over operational decisions, or that control room engineers were warned against leaving a paper trail of their efforts to stabilise the grid, the investigation found \u201ccultural, governance and control issues\u201d that were \u201csignificant findings in their own right\u201d.<\/p>\n

The allegations against Neso emerged after the June heatwave caused grid frequency levels to fall below normal operating limits on a number of occasions and required emergency assistance<\/a> from neighbouring countries to keep the lights on.<\/p>\n

The grid woes were caused by near-record temperatures that caused demand for electricity to run air-conditioning systems to surge while a high pressure heat dome slowed wind turbines and prompted unplanned outages at gas and nuclear plants across Europe.<\/p>\n

Tim Jarvis, the chief executive of the regulator Ofgem, said that although the investigation did not uphold the whistleblower\u2019s specific allegations, it raised \u201cimportant and concerning issues about working culture and practices at Neso\u201d.<\/p>\n

The investigation found there were \u201chigh levels of stress and concern\u201d within the control room over how staff would be able to keep the power system balanced as renewable energy replaces legacy fossil fuel power plants in line with the government\u2019s net zero ambitions.<\/p>\n

It said there was a view that senior Neso executives did not fully appreciate or understand the pressures faced by the control room engineers who were responsible for keeping the lights on \u201con the frontline\u201d.<\/p>\n

In addition, staff felt that their concerns or complaints went \u201clargely unheard\u201d because of the need to keep external stakeholders including the government and the regulators happy, according to the law firm\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

Fintan Slye, Neso\u2019s chief executive, said the report was \u201cconstructive\u201d in identifying areas in which the grid operator could improve how staff could raise concerns and how to respond to them.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI want all colleagues at Neso to feel heard. We will act on the recommendations, working closely with our trade unions, and be open with colleagues about the progress we make,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A separate Ofgem investigation, which is ongoing, will look into whether the cultural issues identified by Eversheds played a role in the operational decision-making, system security or raising energy costs for consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not prejudge that assessment,\u201d Jarvis said, \u201cBut nor will we shy away from its conclusions. Our job is to establish the facts, identify the lessons and ensure action is taken.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ofgem findings, which will be published no later than 31 March 2027, could lead to an enforcement investigation by the regulator if it believes Neso has not complied with obligations under market rules.<\/p>\n

Michael Shanks, the minister for energy, said the government expected \u201csignificant action without delay\u201d and would \u201ckeep progress under close review\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent investigators have found significant and concerning \u201ccultural issues\u201d at Great Britain\u2019s grid operator after control room staff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-808298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}