The government will pay National Grid £630 million to buy the business responsible for keeping Britain’s lights on as it establishes a new public entity for running the energy system.
The National Energy System Operator, or Neso, will be launched in October as an independent body that will bring oversight of the electricity and gas systems together for the first time, a move that Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said would help to build a “network that is fit for the future”.
Long-term concerns over potential conflicts of interest had already resulted in National Grid’s Electricity System Operator, which will form the core of the new state-owned body, becoming a legally separate entity in 2019.
Neso will balance daily energy supply and demand on the