This post was originally published on this site.
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”.
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”.
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.
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.”
