Business United Kingdom

Cost of balancing Great Britain’s power grid reaches nearly £50m a day

Grid operator is paying huge sums to switch off windfarms in areas of excess electricity generation while turning on gas plants elsewhere The cost of…

By The News Engine Desk Based on reporting by The Guardian

15 Oct 2026, 21:06 IST 1 min read 0 views

Image accompanying the story: Cost of balancing Great Britain’s power grid reaches nearly £50m a day — Image: Photograph: Robin Weaver/Alamy · via The Guardian

The Guardian reports: Grid operator is paying huge sums to switch off windfarms in areas of excess electricity generation while turning on gas plants elsewhere The cost of balancing Great Britain’s power grid has soared to near-record highs of almost £50m a day after windfarms were turned off because of bottlenecks in transmitting power around the country.

This business story centres on the United Kingdom.

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Key details

Location: United Kingdom · Europe
Reported by: The Guardian
First reported: 15 Oct 2026, 21:06 IST
Key names: Great Britain
Section: Business
Figure cited: The grid operator paid £47.9m on Wednesday to turn windfarms off in areas with an oversupply of electricity and turn gas plants on in areas where supplies were tight. (The Guardian)