If your power is off
Call 105, not SHE Transmission
Free, 24/7. The 105 line routes you to SSEN, the distribution network operator for the North of Scotland. SHE Transmission owns the high-voltage backbone, not your household supply. If you can see a downed line or there is a risk to life, also call 999.
What SHE Transmission owns
SHE Transmission holds one of the three high-voltage transmission licences in Great Britain. It covers the geography that includes some of the windiest spots in Europe and some of the smallest electricity demand: a difficult engineering problem and a huge opportunity for net zero.
High-voltage backbone
132 kV, 275 kV and 400 kV overhead lines, substations and switching stations carrying bulk electricity from generators (mostly wind and hydro) towards the Central Belt of Scotland and on to England.
Subsea HVDC links
Long high-voltage direct-current cables under the North Sea (Moray West, Caithness-Moray, Western Link) move Scottish wind power down to populated areas without needing extra overland pylons.
Island connections
Links to Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides, allowing onshore and offshore wind from these islands to feed into the GB market for the first time at scale.
Where SHE Transmission sits in the journey of an electron
UK electricity travels through three layers before reaching your kettle. SHE Transmission owns the first of those layers in the North of Scotland.
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1
Transmission: the high-voltage motorway
SHE Transmission owns the high-voltage system in the North of Scotland. SP Transmission owns the equivalent in Central and Southern Scotland. National Grid Electricity Transmission owns the equivalent in England and Wales. NESO co-ordinates the whole motorway as a single Great Britain system in real time.
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2
Distribution: SSEN (the local streets)
In the North of Scotland, SSEN takes electricity off SHE Transmission's grid at large substations, steps the voltage down in stages and carries it through local cables to homes and businesses.
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3
Supply: your bill
A licensed supplier buys electricity, pays transmission and distribution charges, then resells the electricity to you. The supplier is the only part of the chain you can switch.
SHE Transmission vs SSEN vs your supplier: the cheat sheet
For household issues, SHE Transmission is almost never the right call. Use the table below as a quick reference.
| Situation | SHE Transmission? | SSEN (105) | Your supplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power cut on your street | No | Yes | No |
| Downed wire or damaged distribution pylon | No | Yes, plus 999 | No |
| Bill, payment, direct debit | No | No | Yes |
| Smart meter / move home | No | No | Yes |
| New EV charger or domestic solar | No | Yes (G98 / G99) | No |
| Large generator or industrial connection at high voltage | Yes | No | No |
How SHE Transmission earns and why your bill is paying for new pylons
SHE Transmission is a regulated monopoly. Ofgem caps its allowed revenue under a multi-year framework (RIIO-T). Most of its recent settlements are dominated by one job: building the new pylons, substations and subsea cables needed to bring Scottish wind to English homes.
Capped revenue
Ofgem caps SHE Transmission's revenue across multiple years. Suppliers pay the transmission charge and pass it through to your bill.
Wind to demand
The North of Scotland is one of the windiest regions in Europe. Most demand is in the Central Belt and England. SHE Transmission's job is to build the transmission capacity so cheap Scottish wind reaches the rest of the country.
Constraint costs
Without enough transmission, NESO pays Scottish wind farms to switch off when they could be generating. These constraint payments end up on every UK electricity bill. Better grid means cheaper bills in the long run.
SHE Transmission: frequently asked questions
No. Call 105 from any landline or mobile, free, 24/7. The line routes you to SSEN (the distribution network operator for the North of Scotland), which is the company that owns the local cables to your meter. SHE Transmission owns the high-voltage backbone that links power stations and offshore wind farms to that distribution network. It is not in contact with your home.
They are all part of the SSE plc group, but each does a different job. SHE Transmission owns the high-voltage system (132 kV and above) in the North of Scotland. SSEN owns the lower-voltage distribution networks (cables, local substations, household connections). SSE plc is the parent. Scottish Hydro was the retail brand SSE used to sell electricity and gas to households, now phased out (its supply customers moved to Ovo Energy in 2020).
At privatisation, the Scottish electricity system was carved between two integrated operators: ScottishPower (Central and Southern Scotland) and Scottish Hydro-Electric (North of Scotland). Both retained both transmission and distribution licences for their own areas. SHE Transmission and SP Transmission today own those two halves of the Scottish high-voltage grid.
Subsea HVDC links from offshore wind farms in the Moray Firth and around the Hebrides, new overhead lines connecting the Highlands to the rest of the UK, and reinforcements that allow more renewable generation to reach demand centres in the South of Scotland and England. The most visible work is the multibillion-pound effort to move Scottish wind to English homes.
Call 105. The 105 service forwards to whichever transmission or distribution operator owns the asset. If there is an immediate danger to life (downed lines, fire, sparking), also call 999 and keep at least 25 metres clear.