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Energy minister accused of misleading MPs over grid

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Energy minister accused of misleading MPs over grid

Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy secretary, called on Monday for the Government to clarify whether Michael Shanks, the energy minister, misled Parliament over the state of Britain’s electricity grid during June’s heatwave, after leaked documents from the National Energy System Operator recorded five constraint breaches on the transmission network on June 23.

Answering an urgent question in the Commons on July 15, Mr Shanks told MPs the incident “did not indicate any kind of emergency situation” and that it was “scaremongering to take to social media or come to the House and somehow imply that we were close to blackouts, which is simply not the case”.

He said: “Let me state very clearly that electricity supplies were maintained throughout the June heatwave. No customer demand was subject to disconnection. Statutory frequency limits were maintained throughout the event, and the largest credible loss that could have occurred was also covered.”

On the system’s spare capacity, he added: “The margin represents the cushion of spare generation above peak demand that is maintained by Neso, and at no point did we come close to breaching that.”

Two days later, internal Neso reports emerged which listed five constraint breaches across the transmission network that occurred with “no available pre or post-action mitigation options”. The reports, first reported by The Times and confirmed by Neso, also stated that “system constraints were breached and system security was compromised”.

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Neso, the government body responsible for balancing supply and demand across Britain’s transmission network, has said the findings are preliminary and that a full review is under way.

Grid resilience has previously prompted data centre operators to seek priority access to electricity in the event of supply restrictions.

The Ministerial Code states that it is of “paramount importance” that ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament and correct any inadvertent error “at the earliest opportunity”. Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament are expected to offer their resignation.

In a letter to Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Energy Secretary, Ms Coutinho said it appeared that either Fintan Slye, Neso’s chief executive, had misled Mr Shanks “or the minister misled the House”.

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Ms Coutinho told The Telegraph: “The minister for energy told the House on July 15 that ‘at no point did we come close to a breach’ of reserve standards on June 23. It has since emerged through leaked documents that Neso’s own initial assessment showed exactly this had happened. The new Secretary of State must get to the bottom of whether her minister misled the House, and if so why.”

She added: “Did he just take the chief executive of Neso’s word that everything was tickety-boo? At every stage of this scandal ministers have had their heads in the sand, initially saying I was ‘scaremongering’. It’s time for them to wake up and do their job and hold Neso to account on behalf of the British public.”

A Whitehall source said on Monday that Mr Shanks stood by his comments.

Mr Shanks said he and Ed Miliband, the then energy secretary, had been briefed by Mr Slye on allegations of a cover-up concerning the June incident after Ms Coutinho raised the matter.

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Ofgem, the industry regulator, has separately commissioned Neso to produce a report establishing the circumstances of June 23 and how grid operators handled it.

Neso has also hired lawyers at Eversheds Sutherland to investigate whistleblower claims that staff in the control room were ordered to play down the risk of blackouts and cover up how key decisions were taken. That investigation is overseen by Ofgem, which said earlier this month that Mr Slye would not receive updates from the law firm unless they had been cleared by an independent panel first.

A spokesman for Neso said: “Given the seriousness of the allegations and the need to maintain independence of the investigation, we are clear that findings will not be shared with any of the Neso executive until the findings are finalised.”

A Government spokesman said: “The UK has one of the most reliable electricity systems in the world, in its 75-year history, there has never been a complete grid shutdown. We are very confident in our security of supply arrangements, and that NESO have the tools they need to manage the system. At no time has there been any concern about being able to meet demand in heatwaves.”

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Paul Jones

Harvard alumni and former New York Times journalist. Editor of Business Matters for over 15 years, the UKs largest business magazine. I am also head of Capital Business Media’s automotive division working for clients such as Red Bull Racing, Honda, Aston Martin and Infiniti.

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Nabard cancels Rs 8,000 cr bond issue on high-yield bids

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Nabard cancels Rs 8,000 cr bond issue on high-yield bids
Mumbai: State-owned Nabard rejected offers received for its ₹8,000-crore bond issue Tuesday after investors demanded yields in excess of 7.60% for a tenure of five years. Nabard’s bond was one of the largest proposed issuances in more than a month.

The lender planned to borrow around 7.40% – 7.45%, market participants said. The withdrawal highlights palpable caution in the primary bond market, where activity picked up briefly in June but has remained muted through July and early August.

Investors demanded higher returns, anticipating that yields will rise due to geo-political uncertainties. Furthermore, markets are also watchful of the expected hawkish tone in the monetary policy scheduled on Wednesday, although the central bank is widely expected to hold rates, according to an ET poll.

Nabard cancels Rs 8,000 cr bond issue on high-yield bids
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Nabard rejected its ₹8,000-crore bond offering as investors sought higher yields. This withdrawal highlights investor caution in the primary bond market. Geopolitical uncertainties and monetary policy outlook are influencing investor demands. Corporate bond issuances have significantly decreased compared to the previous year. Institutions are selectively deploying funds while awaiting market clarity.


In the first four months of this fiscal year, corporates have issued bonds of ₹97,053 crore, almost half the issuances during the same period last year, BSE data showed. In the first four months of FY26, corporate bonds issuances amounted to ₹1.82 lakh crore. “The system has ample liquidity and credit growth remains healthy. What has changed is investor appetite,” said Venkatakrishnan Srinivasan, managing partner at Rockfort Fincap, a debt advisory firm. “Fund deployment has become selective as institutions prefer to wait for greater clarity on the evolving geopolitical situation and RBI’s policy outlook.”
Elevated government bond yields, which serve as the benchmark for pricing corporate bonds, have pushed up borrowing costs, discouraging companies from tapping the bond market.


The 10-year benchmark government bond yield, considered the floor for corporates borrowing in the bond market, closed at 6.81% on Tuesday. It was at 6.60% at the start of the year. The one-year marginal cost of lending rate, or MCLR, at State Bank of India stands at 8.70%.
“Yes, there is a slowdown in corporate bonds, and this is going to continue over the year. Yields have moved higher as markets increasingly price in risks arising from the ongoing geopolitical tensions,” said Soumyajit Niyogi, director, India Ratings Research. “In this environment, fixed-rate corporate bond borrowing costs have moved higher and turned comparable to bank funding rates.”

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LARRY KUDLOW: Now’s the time for the GOP to message affordability

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LARRY KUDLOW: Unconditional deadlines should be the next Iranian step

Ace pollster John McLaughlin, using an accurate survey of 1,000 likely voters, shows when Republican candidates clearly support free-market capitalism versus Democratic policies of big government socialism, the GOP moves from a virtual tie in the generic Congressional ballot, to a commanding 49 percent to 36 percent lead. Independent and moderate voters show exactly the same move toward the GOP when the subject is capitalism versus socialism.

There’s a lesson here. And it’s a pity that the Republicans are not likely to produce a pro-growth, pro-affordability, tax and spending cut budget package. A missed opportunity. However, the second choice if you can’t get legislation, is good messaging this summer. And there is this midterm convention at Dallas in early September. And the economy right now, speaking of affordability, is booming. Every day we get more evidence. Manufacturing is on a roll.

The AI boom is transforming the American economy. Construction is rising in a way we haven’t seen in many years. Consumers are spending. Businesses are investing. Here’s one today: non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, Wall Street calls it cap ex, in the last three months, orders are up 10.5 percent. Shipments are up 11.5 percent. Backlogs are up by more than 9 percent. All at an annual rate. We haven’t seen anything like this in decades.

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The stock market is setting new records on a daily basis, including the S&P. Today the Dow closed at 54,085. Nearly 150 million Americans are invested. And the Trump accounts are coming in at record pace. Everybody is gonna own a piece of the Roth.

Last year’s One, Big, Beautiful Bill had the tax cuts and the spending cuts and it’s working today. So I’m just saying it’s time for the GOP to please talk about this. Better to talk about it with a roaring stock market. Growth and affordability. Let’s get it right.

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Mattel Q2 2026 slides: revenue beats as margin pressure weighs

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Mattel Q2 2026 slides: revenue beats as margin pressure weighs

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NGL Energy Partners LP Common Units (NGL) Q1 2027 Earnings Call Transcript

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OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Operator

Greetings. Welcome to the NGL Energy Partners 1Q ’27 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded.

I will now turn the conference over to your host, Brad Cooper, CFO. You may begin.

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Brad Cooper
Executive VP, Compliance Officer & CFO of NGL Energy Holdings LLC

Good afternoon, and thank you to everyone for joining us on the call today. Our comments today will include plans, forecasts and estimates that are forward-looking statements under the U.S. securities law. These comments are subject to assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements. Please take note of the cautionary language and risk factors provided in our presentation materials and our other public disclosure materials.

We are pleased to report a strong start to fiscal 2027 and continued execution on our multiyear strategy of deleveraging the balance sheet through high-return water growth projects. This positions the partnership to continue to address the Class D preferreds later this fiscal year.

During the first quarter, we hit record produced water volumes, physically disposing of approximately 3.32 million barrels per day during the first quarter, growing 19.6% from the first quarter of fiscal 2026. The record water volumes also generated record Water Solutions adjusted EBITDA for a single quarter.

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We are seeing the growth capital spend and

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Alamo Group Inc. (ALG) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript