Jan 3, 2020

Three UK electricity companies to pay £10.5m over blackout

Three electricity companies have agreed to pay a total of £10.5m in fines following an investigation by Britain's energy regulator into a major blackout last August that disrupted more than 1m consumers and caused serious rail disruption. Hornsea One, an offshore wind farm jointly owned by Denmark's Orsted and Global Infrastructure Partners, plus German utility RWE have each agreed to pay £4.5m for their part in the power cut on August 9, which followed a lightning strike on the main electricity transmission system. UK Power Networks, which owns local grid infrastructure in Britain, will pay £1.5m, Ofgem said on Friday. Jonathan Brearley, who will next month take over as chief executive of Ofgem, said: "Consumers and businesses rely on generators and network companies to provide a secure and stable power supply. August 9 showed how much disruption and distress is caused to consumers across the UK when this does not happen." He added: "Our investigation has raised important questions about National Grid's Electricity System Operator, which is why our review will look at the structure and governance of the company." National Grid's Electricity System Operator, which has responsibility for overseeing Britain's energy system, is a legally separate company to National Grid but remains part of the wider publicly listed National Grid group.

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