I wrote Making The News almost three years ago in order to draw attention to what I consider to be the way in which news is now routinely reported by the mainstream media – that is to say, news websites regularly do little more than cut and paste press releases, without bothering to check the accuracy and validity of their contents. Increasingly the press releases in question refer to a “study” or an opinion poll, usually commissioned by the organisation issuing the press release, all with a view to generating some favourable publicity regarding their pet subject. These days the “climate crisis” (sic) and net zero seem to be the subjects that bulk large in this way, and much of the media, especially the BBC, are happy to oblige.

Given that I consider Great British Energy to be an empty shell, I find it surprising to note how little it has to say about anything. In fairness, it might be said that this is because the Great British Energy Bill is currently going through the committee stage and is not yet an Act of Parliament, so it is simply avoiding jumping the gun. Perhaps that is the case. And yet, that hasn’t stopped it dabbling with social media. It has an account with “X” (which I can’t see, because I don’t have an “X” account); it has a You Tube channel (with a single video, five minutes and forty one seconds long, showing a Channel 4 interview with Ed Miliband parroting what I consider to be his usual nonsense); it has a LinkedIn account (which again I can’t see); and it has a Facebook account. They seem to be experimenting, as there is also this Facebook account (described as a Government organisation, with no posts, no likes and no followers) and this one described as an energy company, with two posts from January 2020, one like and five members.

What appears to be the “real” Facebook page has a short but interesting history. It made a brief attempt to appear, for some unknown reason, at the Scotland Against Spin (SAS) Facebook page a few days ago, but as that page is closed to comments other than from members, it failed to be visible to anyone other than SAS admins. When they drew the attention of its members to this, a number of them posted comments at the Great British Energy Facebook page. They were unprepared for this, it seems, and shortly afterwards the page disappeared. Now it’s back, but so far all that is visible is a post updating the profile picture, which makes it clear that its headquarters are (will be?) in Aberdeen. At the time of writing it has no likes and no followers. Again, it is described as an energy company.

Why so coy? It certainly is coy. The news section of its website says virtually nothing, and the rest of its website contains very little at all. I suppose, in fairness, it is all (as it claims) set up on a pro bono basis, and Great British Energy is not yet formally established.

Still, there is some big news that has largely passed without much mention in the media. Yes, the government issued a press release, but it seems to have generated very little interest, and the government doesn’t seem to be much inclined to talk about it. The news in question is that with effect from tomorrow (or so the press release tells us) the government is to acquire the Electricity System Operator (ESO) from National Grid.

This, we are informed, “will support the UK’s energy security, help to keep bills down in the long term, and accelerate the government’s clean power mission.” I note that the talk is now of keeping bills down in the long term, though even that seems unlikely with the government’s accelerated targets for “decarbonising” the national grid. The ESO was formed in 2011 and (as National Grid Electricity System Operator Limited) has until now been a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Grid Holdings One PLC, which in turn is ultimately owned and controlled by National Grid PLC.

Subject to “customary closing adjustments” National Grid is to receive £630 million for the transfer of ESO into government ownership. The government’s press release assures us this is OK because “[t]he majority of taxpayer costs will be recouped via existing charges on energy bills, which previously would have gone to National Grid.” [my emphasis]. Going forward, ESO is to be known as the National Energy System Operator (NESO). Its new Chairman is to be Dr Paul Golby (former CEO of E.ON) and its Chief Executive is to be Fintan Slye. Having worked in the industry for some time, and having been with ESO since 2018, Mr Slye might well be the right man for the job, which is just as well, as he has his work cut out. For on 23^rd August 2024 a letter was sent to him jointly by Mr Miliband and by Chris Stark, the new Head of Mission Control for Clean Power 2030. It:

…provides a formal commission to the ESO, in advance of becoming the National Energy System Operator (NESO), to provide practical advice on achieving clean power by 2030 for Great Britain. This advice should consist of a range of pathways that enable a decarbonised power system for Great Britain by 2030 and an enduring contribution to economy-wide decarbonisation beyond 2030….

Rather him than me, especially given this:

…We would ask you to work with Mission Control at DESNZ to ensure that the plan is based on a shared set of assumptions about what is technically required and feasible to deliver clean power by 2030….

David Turver has been unimpressed with the response to date:

In other words, Fintan has slyly moved the goalposts. The work of NESO will not inform the Government or the public about the costs and risks of delivering the as yet undefined net zero grid by 2030. This is now the blind leading the blind to an unknown destination without knowing the price of the ticket. Fintan Slye is ducking his responsibility and we are going to be short-changed again.

I suspect that he may be correct. However, as most days see me solidly sceptical rather than cynical, we shall have to wait and see what develops. I hope Mr Slye has rather more idea than those who wrote the press release, which breathlessly tells us:

Currently, there is no single body responsible for overseeing the strategic planning and design of the country’s electricity and gas networks.

NESO will fill this gap – breaking down the siloes which currently exist between the planning of electricity and gas systems, with independent oversight for the design of all Great Britain’s energy networks.

The move will enable investors to build out new energy infrastructure with confidence in how their project will fit into the country’s wider clean energy plan.

Perhaps this will all come true, more likely it won’t. At least Mr Slye isn’t Mr Miliband, who continues to write things like this:

We need to move Britain off expensive, insecure fossil fuel markets, and onto clean, cheap homegrown power that we control. This is how we reduce bills in the long term, strengthen our energy independence and support skilled jobs across the country.

In any event, tomorrow is the big day. Perhaps by then ENSO will have a website. If you search for it right now you will simply be told “We’re making some changes” along with the promise that they’ll be back up and running tomorrow and that they can’t wait for us to see what’s next.

Maybe by then there’ll be some media interest. There ought to be. This stuff is absolutely critical to the UK’s energy security and pricing. Indifference really isn’t good enough.