The journey of electricity, in four steps
Electricity does not jump straight from a power station to your kettle. It travels through three owners on the way. The National Grid is the middle, high-voltage leg.
From power station to plug
The four stages in plain text: generation (power stations and wind farms make electricity); transmission (the National Grid carries it at 400 kV and 275 kV); distribution (your DNO steps it down and carries it locally); your home (it arrives at 230 V and your supplier bills you).
You cannot switch the grid, but you can switch your supplier
The National Grid and your local network are fixed by where you live. The supplier who buys the power and bills you is the one part you choose. Compare every live UK tariff, cheapest first.
Cheapest live rate now: British Gas at 23.85p/kWh, about 3% below the 24.67p cap.
What the National Grid is made up of
Pylons and overhead lines
The steel towers and cables you see striding across the countryside, carrying power at 400 kV and 275 kV.
Underground cables
High-voltage cables buried where overhead lines are not practical, such as near cities.
Substations
Sites full of transformers that step voltage up for transmission and back down for the local networks.
Interconnectors
Subsea and underground links to other countries (such as France, the Netherlands and Norway) that let Britain import and export power.
Why such high voltage?
Pushing electricity at very high voltage is like sending water through a wide, high-pressure pipe: you move a lot with little lost on the way. The grid runs at 400 kV and 275 kV precisely to cut the energy wasted as heat over long distances. Substations then step it down in stages, finally to the 230 volts in your sockets. The high voltage is the whole reason a single national network is cheaper than lots of local generation everywhere.
The 2024 change most guides have not caught up with
For years, "the National Grid" meant both the wires and the control room. That is no longer true. On 1 October 2024 the control-room role, balancing the system and planning its future, was split off into a separate, publicly owned body: the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
So today, National Grid owns the transmission wires in England and Wales, but NESO runs the system across Great Britain. If a guide tells you National Grid balances supply and demand, it is out of date.
Who to call (it is not National Grid)
| If you need to... | Contact |
|---|---|
| Report a power cut | Call 105 (routes to your DNO) |
| Query a bill or switch tariff | Your energy supplier |
| Get a new connection | Your DNO (homes) or National Grid (large/transmission-level) |
| Understand a winter capacity notice | That is NESO, the system operator |
What is the National Grid: FAQ
It is the high-voltage motorway for electricity: a network of pylons, cables and substations that moves power in bulk from where it is made to the local networks near your home. It does not deliver electricity to your door and does not bill you. In England and Wales it is owned by the company National Grid.
Four main things: pylons and overhead lines carrying power at 400 kV and 275 kV; underground cables where overhead lines are not practical; substations full of transformers that change the voltage; and interconnectors, the subsea links that let Britain trade electricity with neighbouring countries.
The transmission network in England and Wales is owned by National Grid plc. In Scotland it is owned by SP Transmission (south) and SSEN Transmission (north). The body that runs the system across Great Britain, NESO, is publicly owned by the UK government.
To move large amounts of electricity efficiently over long distances. Generating sites are often far from where power is used, so the grid carries it at very high voltage (which reduces losses) and connects every region into one system, so power can flow to wherever it is needed.
No. Power cuts are almost always a fault on the local network, so you call 105, which routes you to your distribution operator. The National Grid runs the high-voltage system between regions and does not deal with individual homes.