Andy Burnham will on Tuesday unveil a government-backed body called GB Grid to invest directly in Britain’s electricity network, officials said, marking what his team describes as the first major step toward bringing the country’s utility companies under increased public control.
The announcement, due during Burnham’s first conference speech as Labour leader, repurposes funds that had been earmarked for the previously announced Great British Energy initiative. The new entity is intended to act as a competitive investor in the electricity grid alongside existing, privately owned operators.
GB Grid will, according to the plan outlined by government sources, use the redirected capital to fund upgrades and expansion of transmission and distribution infrastructure. The move is explicitly aimed at enabling the publicly backed body to compete with established private firms such as National Grid for projects and contracts across the network.
Supporters of the proposal say the creation of GB Grid represents a strategic shift in how the state engages with critical utilities, signalling a greater willingness to use public finance and institutions to shape investment in energy infrastructure. Critics are likely to scrutinise how the new body will interact with private operators and whether it will alter markets for grid services.
Details on governance, the precise size of the funding transfer from Great British Energy and the timetable for GB Grid’s operational launch were not disclosed in the initial announcement. The government said further particulars would be provided alongside Burnham’s address on Tuesday.