The number: about 15%. That was the share of Britain's electricity sold at a fixed price in 2025, under the government-backed deals known as Contracts for Difference, according to the energy think tank Ember. Picture seven units of power on your electricity bill, each one a kilowatt-hour. Roughly one came at a fixed price. The other six were sold at prices tied to the market, and the market mostly follows gas.

Since 5 November, the levy on electricity suppliers that pays for those deals has been £0 a megawatt-hour, a megawatt-hour being 1,000 of the kilowatt-hour units on your bill. The Low Carbon Contracts Company, the government-owned firm that runs them, set it at zero on 2 November because market prices are so high. When power is this dear, the wind and solar farms on fixed prices need no top-up from bill payers. Once the market goes above their agreed price, they pay the difference back.

What we said, what happened. On 29 October we asked how the gas standing charge, the fixed daily fee on a gas bill, would be scrapped. The Chancellor had said on 28 October that he would ask Ofgem, the energy regulator, to act. His aim is removal in 2027 or as soon as possible after. On 4 November the government said it would amend the Energy Independence Bill, introduced that day, to support the plan, but there is still no firm date.

Two wind farms on a fixed price for 20 years

On Wednesday 11 November, the energy company RWE and the investment company KKR said they would spend around £12 billion on two wind farms, Vanguard West and Vanguard East (joint announcement). The sum includes the cables and kit that bring the power ashore. Both farms sit 50 to 80 kilometres off the Norfolk coast. KKR holds half of each and RWE leads the building, the companies say, and they expect both to be fully running in 2030. The government says the farms could power the equivalent of around three million homes.

Both won Contracts for Difference in the government's seventh auction, announced in January, at £91.20 a megawatt-hour in 2024 money. That's about 9p a unit at wholesale. The round secured a record 8.4 gigawatts (GW) at sea, as Carbon Brief reported. A gigawatt, 1,000 megawatts, is roughly the output of a large power station.

The companies' announcement of 11 November gives each farm 1,400 megawatts. The auction results of 14 January list contract parts for each farm that add up to 1,545. Neither document explains the difference.

Not in the release: what the deal adds to or takes off a typical bill, and which port ships the turbines.

Now set the £91.20 price against the market. On Tuesday 10 November, Britain's short-term wholesale price was £225.07 for the same amount, according to Elexon, which works out who owes what in Britain's electricity market. On the same day last year it was £73.81. Every day since 28 October it has been about £200 or more, around double the contract price.

Why does gas still set the price?

Britain's wholesale price is usually set by the dearest power station needed to meet demand, and that is most often a gas plant. The UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) estimated that gas was the price-setter about 90% of the time in 2025, Carbon Brief reported in January, and it expects 60% by 2029.

The fixed-price deals don't stop gas setting the price. They fix what the farms holding them earn, so only that slice of the market is shielded. Ember expects the slice to reach 36% by 2030, which still leaves nearly two-thirds of our power sold at market prices. Vanguard is meant to be part of that rise, but RWE expects building at sea to start only in 2027 (announcement).

Wind and solar do help in a crisis, and Ember has put a figure on it. It counted the first four weeks of this year's gas crisis, from 28 February to 28 March. Gas generation was 39% lower than in the same weeks of 2021, and Ember reckons wind and solar avoided around £7 million of gas purchases a day, after allowing for extra payments to contract holders.

It still wasn't enough to hold bills down. The price cap, Ofgem's limit on what suppliers can charge on standard tariffs, rose in May and again in October, and Uswitch says both rises came from constraints on oil and gas supplies after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Forecasts from British Gas, EDF and E.ON, gathered by Uswitch by 6 November, point to a further rise of about 28% in January, which Uswitch puts down to the continued effects of the war in Iran on wholesale prices. Ofgem sets the January cap on 25 November.

The wider grid waits on a February decision

RWE said on 11 November that onshore cable works and substations for Vanguard are well advanced (announcement). National Grid wants to build Norwich to Tilbury, a new 180 km line through a region it calls "a powerhouse of offshore wind and renewable generation". The planning examiners sent their recommendation to the Energy Secretary on 10 November, and the decision is due by 10 February 2027. The companies' announcement doesn't say whether Vanguard's 2030 date depends on that line.

The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan aims for 43 to 50 GW of wind at sea by 2030. In January, Carbon Brief counted about 17 GW built, 10 GW already contracted and the auction's 8.4 GW, which still left a gap of about 7 GW to the bottom of the range. Vanguard is part of that 8.4 GW, so if it slips, the gap grows.

The date matters more than the £12 billion

The fixed price is insurance, and since 5 November the contracts already running have needed no top-up from bill payers. The weakness is how little it covers. A gas shock still sets the price of most of the power households buy, and the £12 billion changes nothing until the farms run.

The 2030 date is also the government's target year. Every year that Vanguard, or the grid behind it, slips leaves more of the power you buy exposed to gas prices.

The strongest case against us is cheap gas. A year ago the market price was £73.81, below Vanguard's £91.20, which is in 2024 money and has since risen with inflation. If prices drop back that far and stay there, the levy starts topping the farms up and the deals cost bill payers. Then the case for them rests on security rather than on this winter's sums, and a late Vanguard costs less than we suggest.

What it means for you

Your bills. Vanguard changes nothing on your bill this winter or next. If the farms run on time, gas shocks after 2030 will hit your bill less hard, though they won't go away.

Who pays, who gains. Bill payers carry the price risk in both directions. When the market pays less than the agreed price, suppliers pay a levy that tops the farms up, and that cost reaches bills. When it pays more, the farms hand back the difference, according to EMR Settlement, which runs the payments. The owners carry the building risk, because they spend the money at sea first and are paid only for power the farms produce. In return, they gain a price fixed for 20 years and rising with inflation, though they are not topped up when the market price falls below zero.

What it means for the country

The government puts the jobs at more than 2,400 across building and running the farms, but doesn't say where. RWE has named Vestas for the turbines and Lowestoft as a base for building support, but this week's announcements don't say how much of the £12 billion is spent with UK firms.

The short version

1. RWE and KKR say they will spend around £12 billion on two wind farms off Norfolk, at a fixed £91.20 a megawatt-hour in 2024 money for 20 years (announcement).

2. Only about 15% of Britain's power was sold at fixed prices like this in 2025, and gas was the price-setter about 90% of the time, so the gas shock still reaches bills.

3. In our view, the main risk in this deal for bill payers is delay, at sea or on the grid. Ministers decide on Norwich to Tilbury by 10 February 2027, and this week's announcement doesn't say whether Vanguard depends on it.

Jargon buster

Contract for Difference. A deal with a government-owned company that fixes what a power station earns for each unit. In a cheap market it is topped up, and in a dear one it pays back.

What we don't know yet

The pay-back. How much fixed-price farms are handing back this quarter. The levy notice of 2 November gives the rate, not the sum.

The grid. Whether Vanguard's 2030 date depends on the Norwich to Tilbury line, which ministers decide on by 10 February 2027.

The size. Which figure for each farm, 1,400 or 1,545 megawatts, will hold.

We'll keep score.

A fixed price for 20 years, or the market: which would you choose for your own bill? Hit reply and tell us, or leave a comment.

If someone you know keeps asking why bills rise while Britain builds more wind, forward this to them.

The Wire covers UK infrastructure news every weekday morning, and it's free. Recent items include the Vanguard money and the Energy Independence Bill. Our live map tracks Vanguard.

Next week: Britain's queue for grid connections, and how much of it is real.

If this was useful, tap the heart below. It helps the piece reach more readers.

See you next week.

Anthony

Sources

1. Ember, "British power prices are increasingly independent from gas", 13 May 2026 (Contract for Difference share of generation 6.1% in 2019, 14.8% in 2025, forecast 36% by 2030): https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/british-power-prices-are-increasingly-independent-from-gas/

2. Low Carbon Contracts Company, "LCCC determines CfD ILR and TRA", 2 November 2026 (levy £0.000 a megawatt-hour from 5 November to 31 December 2026, "a result of elevated market prices"): https://www.lowcarboncontracts.uk/news/lccc-determines-cfd-ilr-and-tra/

3. GOV.UK, Energy Independence Bill announcement, 4 November 2026: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/energy-reforms-to-cut-bills-and-put-power-back-in-peoples-hands

4. RWE and KKR, joint announcement on Vanguard West and Vanguard East, 11 November 2026: https://www.rwe.com/en/press/rwe-ag/2026-11-11-rwe-and-kkr-join-forces-to-deliver-2-8-gw-of-new-offshore-wind-capacity-in-the-uk/

5. GOV.UK, "Prime Minister hails major investment in UK renewables", 11 November 2026 (around three million homes, more than 2,400 jobs, "believed to be the biggest of its kind in UK history to date"): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-hails-major-investment-in-uk-renewables

6. GOV.UK, Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7 results (accessible webpage), results announced 14 January 2026: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contracts-for-difference-cfd-allocation-round-7-results/contracts-for-difference-allocation-round-7-results-accessible-webpage

7. Carbon Brief, "Q&A: What UK's record auction for offshore wind means for bills and clean power by 2030", 15 January 2026 (8.4 GW, about 17 GW built, 10 GW previously contracted, gap of about 7 GW to 43 GW): https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-what-uks-record-auction-for-offshore-wind-means-for-bills-and-clean-power-by-2030

8. Elexon, market index price, daily volume-weighted average, including £73.81 on 10 November 2025, £225.07 on 10 November 2026, and £199 or more on every day from 28 October to 10 November 2026: https://bmrs.elexon.co.uk/market-index-price

9. Carbon Brief, "Expensive gas still biggest driver of high UK electricity bills, says UKERC", 28 January 2026 (gas set the price about 90% of the time in 2025, 60% forecast for 2029): https://www.carbonbrief.org/expensive-gas-still-biggest-driver-of-high-uk-electricity-bills-says-ukerc/

10. Ember, "Clean power fortifies Britain against gas price shocks", 9 April 2026, revised 15 April 2026 (28 February to 28 March 2026: gas generation 39% lower than in 2021, around £7 million of gas purchases avoided a day, net of extra Contract for Difference payments): https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2026/04/Clean-power-fortifies-Britain-against-gas-price-shocks-PDF-1.pdf

11. Uswitch, "Energy price cap January 2027: latest predictions and news", updated 6 November 2026 (rises in May and October, forecast rise of 28% from British Gas, EDF and E.ON predictions): https://www.uswitch.com/gas-electricity/news/energy-price-cap-january-2027-latest-predictions-and-news/

12. Ofgem, changes to the energy price cap between 1 October and 31 December 2026, accessed 11 November 2026 (next cap announced 25 November 2026): https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/changes-energy-price-cap-between-1-october-and-31-december-2026

13. EMR Settlement, Contracts for Difference, accessed 11 November 2026: https://www.emrsettlement.co.uk/about-emr/contracts-for-difference

14. National Grid, Norwich to Tilbury, accessed 11 November 2026 (180 km line, East Anglia "a powerhouse of offshore wind and renewable generation"): https://www.nationalgrid.com/norwich-tilbury-planning-application-accepted-key-energy-milestone

15. Planning Inspectorate, Norwich to Tilbury project page, EN020027 (recommendation sent to the Secretary of State 10 November 2026, decision due by 10 February 2027): https://national-infrastructure-consenting.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/projects/EN020027

16. GOV.UK, Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, 13 December 2024 (updated 15 April 2025, 43 to 50 GW of offshore wind by 2030): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-power-2030-action-plan

17. Low Carbon Contracts Company, about Contracts for Difference, accessed 11 November 2026: https://www.lowcarboncontracts.uk/our-schemes/contracts-for-difference/about/

18. RWE, turbine supply agreements with Vestas for Vanguard West (20 February 2026) and Vanguard East (10 March 2026), and port agreements including Lowestoft (20 March 2026): https://uk.rwe.com/press-and-news/2026-02-20-rwe-and-vestas-agree-turbine-supply-agreement-for-vanguard-west-offshore-wind-farm/ and https://uk.rwe.com/press-and-news/2026-03-20-rwe-agrees-ports-with-abp-clarksons/

19. GOV.UK, "Chancellor abolishes standing charges on gas bills to make payments fairer", 28 October 2026 (removal "in 2027 or as soon as possible after"): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-abolishes-standing-charges-on-gas-bills-to-make-payments-fairer

20. Our sums: one unit in seven is 14.3%, close to Ember's 14.8%. £91.20 a megawatt-hour is 9.12p a kilowatt-hour. Auction contract parts of 1,380, 90 and 75 megawatts make 1,545 megawatts a farm, from item 6: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contracts-for-difference-cfd-allocation-round-7-results/contracts-for-difference-allocation-round-7-results-accessible-webpage

Storm Boelo reached the north of England on the weekend of 24 and 25 October 2026. Cumbria and Lancashire took the worst of it, with gusts of 78mph at St Bees. By the Monday, SP Electricity North West, the company that runs the local power lines across the north west, had reconnected more than 80,000 properties and had around 3,000 still to go.

(It was plain Electricity North West until last year, when it joined Iberdrola's ScottishPower group and took the new name.)

The number: £2,235. That's the most a household in Great Britain can be paid for one storm power cut, at the rates that started in April 2026. You'd have to be off for roughly a fortnight to reach it, so most people get far less, but it's still money that should turn up without you asking.

This week: the people who actually fix your power, the payments you get when it stays off, storm or no storm, and why Northern Ireland is different. The British figures here cover England, Scotland and Wales.

Your supplier sends the bill, but someone else fixes the wires

The company whose name is on your bill buys the energy and charges you for it. The poles, cables and substations on your street are run by a different company, your distribution network operator, which we'll call your network company from here on. Which one you have depends on where you live, and theirs are the vans you see out in the rain when the lines come down.

So the first call goes to them. Ring 105, a free number that puts you through to whichever network company covers your address, or report the cut on the network company's website. The one exception is a faulty meter, which is a job for your supplier.

The 12-hour clock on an ordinary day

Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, sets minimum service rules called guaranteed standards. Break one and your network company has to pay you.

Outside a storm, the company has 12 hours to get you back on. If it misses that, a household is owed £100, plus £45 for every further 12 hours you stay off. When one fault cuts off 5,000 or more properties at once, the first deadline stretches to 24 hours, and the payments in that situation stop at £400.

Ofgem says these payments come automatically, by cheque, bank transfer or as a credit through your supplier, and if one is late the company may owe you an extra £40.

When the storm rules kick in

What counts as a storm comes down to a fault count on the company's higher voltage network, the bigger lines that feed the cables in your street. Category 1 means at least eight times the normal number of faults in 24 hours, and category 2 means 13 times or more. Lightning works differently, because a lightning storm stays in category 1 however many faults it causes.

The clock runs longer in a storm, with 24 hours to fix things in category 1 and 48 in category 2. After that a household is owed £90, a little less than on an ordinary day, then another £45 for every six hours without power, up to the £2,235 cap.

Boelo is a category 2 storm, the north west's network company says. If your lights went out on the Saturday night and came back 60 hours later, you'd get £90 at the 48-hour mark and two lots of £45, making £180.

The amounts are linked to inflation, which is why the cap is such an odd number.

The company says it will contact everyone who qualifies, by text or letter, once Ofgem's formal process begins, and that there's no need to get in touch.

Receipts, the priority register and the £100 for repeated cuts

Some network companies will also cover what a long cut costs you. For Boelo, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), which covers the north of Scotland and central southern England, is offering anyone off for more than 12 hours up to £30 per person for every 24 hours without power, towards food, drink and emergency supplies. Anyone off for more than 48 hours can claim accommodation too.

Unlike the Ofgem payments, you claim those yourself, on SSEN's website, and you'll need itemised receipts.

The Priority Services Register is a free list of people who need extra help, and your supplier and network company each keep one. You can join if, say, someone at home has reached state pension age or lives with a long-term medical condition. In a power cut that means practical support, such as a battery pack for charging a phone or medical equipment.

It pays nothing extra, but on the second cold night that help can beat any cheque. If someone at your address is older, disabled or relies on powered medical equipment, join before the next storm, not during it.

Repeated cuts count too. If your power goes off four times or more in a year counted from 1 April, each time for at least three hours, you're owed an extra £100. This is the one payment you must ask for, and the deadline is three months after the year ends, so by the end of June.

Northern Ireland: no storm payments, for now

In Northern Ireland the wires belong to NIE Networks, Northern Ireland Electricity Networks, and the rules come from the Utility Regulator, not Ofgem. NIE Networks has service standards too, but its own guidance says that during extreme weather the standard for restoring power does not apply, so a storm pays nothing.

That may change.

On 22 July 2026 the Economy Minister, Caoimhe Archibald, told the Assembly, Northern Ireland's parliament, that customers "should receive payments when they are left without electricity for a period of time as a result of severe weather events". Her officials are to work out the detail within this Assembly term, though the Utility Regulator, she said, is not proposing to change the exemption for now.

What it means for you

Your bills. In Britain the storm money comes from the network company, and the only payment you have to claim is the one for repeated cuts. If you haven't been paid after a few months, Ofgem says to chase the company up and mention the extra £40 for a missed payment.

Your street. When a storm is forecast, charge your phone and a power bank, and save 105 in your contacts. Keep receipts for anything you buy to get through a long cut, because a scheme like SSEN's needs them.

The short version

1. In Great Britain your local network company pays you if you're off too long, up to £2,235 per storm.

2. Ordinary cuts pay £100 after 12 hours, and storms pay £90 after 24 or 48 hours, without you having to claim.

3. Northern Ireland's rules switch off in extreme weather, and the minister wants that changed.

What we don't know yet

SP Electricity North West says it is in the final phase of its Boelo recovery, with permanent repairs under way and more than 7,500 calls made to customers, but it has not yet said when the guaranteed standard payments will go out. Nor is there a date for Northern Ireland's storm payments. We'll keep score on both.

Tell us in the comments how long your power was off, and whether the payment turned up.

If you know someone who sat through Boelo in the dark, forward this to them.

If you want the bigger picture, our report on Ofgem's next five-year deal with the network companies looks at what they want to spend from April 2028. For the Boelo numbers as they came in, the company's 26 October update is on The Wire, our infrastructure news feed. Our live map shows what's being built near you: gridteamai.com/map-explorer.

The cables and substations behind your power supply, and the upgrades under way, are on our grid page at gridteamai.com/energy-and-grid.

The next issue lands on Thursday, and the next explainer the Monday after. See you next week.

Anthony

Sources

1. SP Electricity North West, Engineers make good progress but conditions worsening following Storm Boelo, 26 October 2026. https://news.enwl.co.uk/news/engineers-make-good-progress-but-conditions-worsening-following-storm-boelo, and ScottishPower, New look for SP Electricity North West, 4 August 2025. https://www.scottishpower.com/w/new_look_for_sp_electricity_north_west

2. Met Office, Warnings in place as Storm Boelo to impact UK, 23 October 2026, updated 24 October 2026. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news-and-media/media-centre/weather-and-climate-news/2026/amber-warning-issued-for-storm-boelo-as-storm-austen-moves-through

3. Ofgem, Check if you can get a payment for a power cut, checked 28 October 2026. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/power-cuts

4. SSEN Distribution, The Guaranteed Standards of Performance Customer Payment Scheme, April 2026. https://www.ssen.co.uk/globalassets/about-us/performance-standards/docs/performance-standards---demand-customers-2026.pdf, and Ofgem, Adjustments to Guaranteed Standards of Performance 2026, 13 March 2026. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/guidance/adjustments-guaranteed-standards-performance-2026

5. The Electricity (Standards of Performance) Regulations 2015, regulations 5, 6, 7 and 10 and Schedule 2, legislation.gov.uk, checked 28 October 2026. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/699/schedule/2

6. Electricity North West, Storm Boelo, and Compensation for Storm Boelo power interruptions (category 2, £90 after 48 hours, £45 per further six hours, £2,235 cap), checked 28 October 2026. https://www.enwl.co.uk/power-cuts/storm-boelo/ and https://www.enwl.co.uk/power-cuts/storm-boelo/compensation/

7. SSEN, Storm Boelo: reimbursement and compensation, 27 October 2026. https://www.ssen.co.uk/power-cuts-emergencies/storm-boelo/

8. Our sums, from sources 3, 4 and 6. Category 2, 60 hours off: £90 at 48 hours plus £45 at 54 and 60 hours = £180. Time to reach the cap: £90 + 48 × £45 = £2,250, capped at £2,235, so 24 + 48 × 6 = 312 hours (13 days) in category 1 and 336 hours (14 days) in category 2. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/power-cuts

9. Ofgem, Join your supplier's Priority Services Register, checked 28 October 2026. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/your-energy-supply/how-manage-your-energy-supply/join-your-suppliers-priority-services-register

10. NIE Networks, Compensation for power cuts in severe weather, checked 28 October 2026. https://www.nienetworks.co.uk/help-advice/faqs/unplanned-power-cuts/compensation-for-power-cuts-in-severe-weather

11. Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland), Written statement: review of electricity guaranteed standards of service and overall standards of performance, 22 July 2026. https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/articles/written-statement-review-electricity-guaranteed-standards-service-and-overall-standards-performance-22-july-2026

12. Ofgem, Framework decision for the electricity distribution price control (ED3), 30 April 2025. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/decision/framework-decision-electricity-distribution-price-control-ed3

The number: £100. That's the Household Energy Payment. Up to 20 million households in England in council tax bands A to D will get it, paid through the council tax system from January 2027, the Treasury says.

"Capital investment will be £120 billion more over the Parliament than under the previous government's plans."

That line is in the Budget document the Chancellor, John Healey, published on 28 October. Capital spending is money for things that last. Roads, schools, flood walls and overhead lines, say. Think of it as buying a new boiler, where day-to-day spending is the gas bill afterwards.

A little further on, the same document trims department building budgets by 1% between 2027-28 and 2029-30, to raise £3 billion. Both are true, and squaring them is where we start.

This week: the three questions we left open last time, then the money for building things, where a big new sum goes, and what happens to your energy bill.

We said we'd keep score

Issue 1 ended with three things we didn't know. Wednesday settled one of them.

Building budgets. The Budget moves them in both directions at once, and the next section has the detail.

NISTA's next update. Still nothing. The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, the government body that keeps the UK's list of planned projects, last published that list on 9 March and said at the time that the list is updated twice a year. When we looked on 28 October, its GOV.UK page showed nothing newer.

Ireland's €275.4 billion. That's the total in Ireland's National Development Plan, its long-term building plan for 2026 to 2035, and it's too early to say how much of it turns into real projects. Ireland set its 2027 building budget, €20.3 billion, on 6 October, and we're watching for the first projects to start on site.

Building money peaks, then thins out

The Treasury's headline is the £120 billion. It compares this Parliament's capital spending with the plans the government inherited, and on that measure the total is comfortably higher. We did the sums: that's roughly £1,700 for every person in the UK, spread across this Parliament.

Departments' capital budgets, though, will be cut by 1% from 2027-28 to 2029-30, raising £3 billion, or about £1 billion a year shared across departments. Another £1.7 billion comes from building money the Treasury had set aside but not yet handed to any department.

The longer view matters more if you build things for a living. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is the official forecaster. It expects public sector net investment, which is the government's building spend minus wear and tear on what it already owns, to slip from 2.9% of the economy this year and next to 2.3% by 2031-32.

A second OBR measure, general government investment, counts what the government spends on building each year. It grows 14.6% in 2026 and 3.6% in 2027, then shrinks in 2028 and 2029.

To be fair, 2.3% of a growing economy is still a lot of money. With £24 billion to spare in 2029-30, the government also meets its investment rule, which requires debt to shrink as a share of the economy.

A £15.4 billion top-up for the government's own investor

The National Wealth Fund, the government-owned fund that invests alongside private companies, gets an extra £15.4 billion. That includes £2 billion for a new pot within it called the Energy Wealth Fund. Add the British Business Bank's share and the Treasury puts the combined top-up at £20.4 billion, which it expects to create and support 140,000 jobs.

Rachel Skinner, a former president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, will chair a review of rail infrastructure costs and report in six months. The government also plans a law so that legal challenges are less likely to leave essential projects in limbo.

Court cases are how local people and campaigners hold big schemes to account, though, so we'll be reading the wording of that law closely.

Smaller housing schemes on brownfield land, meaning sites that have been built on before, will be exempt from Biodiversity Net Gain, the rule that makes developers leave nature better off than they found it.

Will your energy bill come down?

A little, and mostly next year. The £100 payment arrives first, from January, and it costs £2.6 billion. The governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland get their share of the money through the usual funding formula.

VAT (value added tax), already off household electricity in Great Britain, stays off until July 2027. The price cap, the limit the energy regulator Ofgem sets every three months on what suppliers can charge, is quoted as a yearly figure, and the Treasury expects the VAT move to keep it around £50 lower for April to June. By our sums, that's about £12 in cash over those three months. The Budget says Northern Ireland is expected to get extended VAT relief from April 2027.

Gas standing charges are the fixed daily fee you pay before your boiler has fired up once, and they average £108 a year. The government has asked Ofgem to abolish them and move the cost into the price you pay per unit, aiming for the end of 2027 or as soon as possible after that. Electricity standing charges are up for reform too, with details promised next year.

Mind you, the money still has to come from somewhere. The Treasury says most households will benefit, some may get less out of the change, and targeted help will come alongside it.

A planned charge on gas bills to pay for hydrogen projects, the Gas Shipper Obligation, is scrapped, and the government will fund those projects itself.

Policy costs are the charges on your bill that pay for government schemes. No more will be added unless they bring bills down or make supply more secure, starting with the next auction for renewable power contracts, Allocation Round 8.

Help for first homes, and a pay rise to £13.21

Housing gets £1.5 billion more for around 10,000 social and affordable homes in England, taking total investment in them past £40 billion over ten years. Your First Home, a scheme where the government lends buyers part of the price, gets £4.7 billion and aims to help 70,000 households buy a first home.

Water barely gets a look in. The document names it alongside energy, transport and housing as an area where the state will provide "greater strategic direction", but we couldn't find any new money for it.

For workers, the National Living Wage rises 3.9% to £13.21 an hour from 1 April 2027, and £100 million goes into local apprenticeship services.

What it means for you

Your bills. If you live in England in council tax bands A to D and pay your council tax by direct debit, expect £100 in your bank account from January. If you don’t, your council will invite you to apply, and only your council should contact you about it. Across Britain, the price cap for April to June should be about £50 a year lower than it would otherwise be, roughly £12 in your pocket, and VAT comes back in July. On our reading, scrapping the gas standing charge helps light gas users most, though that's the end of 2027 or later.

Your taxes. Tax on savings and property income goes up by a further two percentage points from April 2027, on top of the two-point rise already set for that date. Banks pay a higher surcharge on their profits for 15 months. The government's main rule is that day-to-day spending is paid for from tax and other income. The OBR puts the government's cushion against that rule at £15 billion in 2029-30, which we think is thin enough that the next Budget could be tougher.

Your job. If you work in construction, make the most of the next year or so, while public building money is at its peak. The OBR's forecast then has government investment shrinking in 2028 and 2029. Our report on the infrastructure skills gap has more on the jobs side: gridteamai.com/volume.html?v=RN026.

Your street. If the new law on legal challenges works as intended, big projects near you could start sooner, with less time stuck in court.

The short version

1. Energy help is real and modest: £100 for up to 20 million homes in England from January, and a price cap about £50 a year lower across Britain for the three months from April.

2. Capital spending this Parliament is £120 billion above the previous government's plans. Even so, department building budgets lose 1% from 2027-28, and the OBR sees government investment shrinking in 2028 and 2029.

3. Much of the new building money goes through the National Wealth Fund, which gets £15.4 billion more.

What we don't know yet

Standing charges. How Ofgem will scrap the gas standing charge without leaving some homes worse off, and whether it can do it by the end of 2027.

Policy costs. What the Cost Control Framework, the Treasury's new test for any charge added to bills, looks like when it arrives at the 2027 spending review. The government says it must be in place before any new policy costs go on bills.

Rail costs. What Rachel Skinner's review finds in six months' time.

The pipeline. When NISTA next updates its list of planned projects.

We'll keep score.

Which part of this Budget will you notice first: the £100, the cheaper electricity, or something else? Hit reply and tell us, or leave a comment.

If you know someone who works in construction or worries about their energy bill, forward this to them.

For the latest decisions, The Wire covers UK and Irish infrastructure news every weekday morning, and it's free: gridteamai.com/wire-archive. Our live map shows what's being built near you: gridteamai.com/map-explorer.

The figures behind your bill, from power prices to Bank Rate, are updated every weekday on The Pulse at gridteamai.com/the-pulse.

See you next week.

Anthony

Sources

1. HM Treasury (GOV.UK), "Budget 2026", 28 October 2026, including the OBR forecasts in its Tables 1.1 and 1.2 (our sums: £50 ÷ 4 = about £12 for three months; £3 billion ÷ 3 years = £1 billion a year). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2026-document/budget-2026-html

2. HM Treasury (GOV.UK), "Budget 2026: Breathing space for today, hope for the future", 28 October 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/budget-2026-breathing-space-for-today-hope-for-the-future

3. National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (GOV.UK), organisation page and latest publications, viewed 28 October 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/national-infrastructure-and-service-transformation-authority

4. NISTA and HM Treasury (GOV.UK), "Infrastructure Pipeline update signals future workforce needs", 9 March 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/infrastructure-pipeline-update-signals-future-workforce-needs

5. Office for National Statistics, "Population estimates for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2025", 1 October 2026 (UK population 69,483,900; our sum: £120 billion ÷ 69.48 million = about £1,730 per person). https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/latest

6. Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (gov.ie), "Statement by Minister Chambers on Budget 2027", 6 October 2026. https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-public-expenditure-infrastructure-public-service-reform-and-digitalisation/speeches/statement-by-minister-chambers-on-budget-2027/

7. Department of the Taoiseach (gov.ie), "Government publishes updated National Development Plan", 22 July 2025. https://www.gov.ie/ga/roinn-an-taoisigh/preaseisiuinti/government-publishes-updated-national-development-plan

The number: £2.50 a month. That’s roughly what Ofgem, Britain’s energy regulator, expects the grid upgrade to add to a typical household bill by 2031, once the savings it expects are counted. Small? Perhaps. But it lands on bills that plenty of households already struggle to pay, and it’s one line of a much bigger story.

Hello, and welcome to the first issue of The Big Build.

Every week, governments, regulators and big companies decide what gets built across the UK and Ireland. They announce it in documents few people outside the industry ever read, written in a language almost nobody speaks: gobbledygook. Reading it all yourself would take weeks or months. We read it for you and pull out what matters.

This week: what’s on the UK’s building list, who pays for it, what Ireland is spending next year, and what it all means for your bills, your job and your street.

The UK’s £718bn to-do list

A government body called the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, NISTA for short, keeps a running list of what’s planned across the UK.

The latest version, from March, has 734 projects on it, worth £718bn of public and private money over the next ten years. That’s a little over £10,000 for every person in the country.

Energy is the big one at £365bn, roughly half of everything. That covers new power stations and wind farms, and the cables, substations and pylons (steel lattice towers) that carry their electricity to the rest of the country.

NISTA has said it will update the list every six months. The last update came in March, and we haven’t seen a date for the next one yet. When it lands, we’ll tell you what has changed, so you don’t have to wade through all 734 projects yourself.

You pay twice: through tax and through your bill

Some of this is paid for with public money, which means your taxes. A lot of the energy spending reaches you another way, through your bills.

Somewhere on your bill is a charge for the network, the kit that gets electricity from the power station to your kettle or iPhone. When the grid needs upgrading, that charge is how it gets paid for. In other words, you pay. But you knew that already, right?

Last December, Ofgem approved £28.7bn of upfront investment in Britain’s high-voltage electricity network and the gas networks, part of a wider pipeline of around £90bn. It expects network charges for an average home on gas and electricity to rise by around £108 by 2031. Once it counts the savings it expects to come back, it puts the net cost at about £30 a year by 2031. That’s the £2.50 a month we started with.

Plenty of readers will feel they've paid for this already. Network charges have been on every bill for decades, and it's fair to ask why the grid didn't keep pace. Ofgem's case is that the network now has to carry more electricity, from more places, than it was built for. Both things can be true. The work is needed, and taxpayers are right to ask whether they've had value for what they've already paid. Look at the state of some older infrastructure and you can see why they ask.

One more thing, in fairness to the grid. If your bill went up this month, it isn’t the main reason. The price cap rose 4% on 1 October, to £1,723 a year for a typical home paying for gas and electricity by direct debit, and Ofgem put the rise down to higher wholesale gas prices.

Ireland’s budget puts homes first

Across the Irish Sea, the government sets its building money every autumn. On 6 October, Jack Chambers, Ireland’s minister for public expenditure and infrastructure, set out €20.3bn of capital spending for 2027. That’s €1.1bn more than this year, and about €3,700 for every person in Ireland.

This money is for building only, not for maintenance or running costs.

It’s one year’s slice of Ireland’s National Development Plan, worth €275.4bn between 2026 and 2035, and next year’s slice leans heavily towards housing and the things new homes can’t do without:

• Housing: €5.6bn, including €3bn for social housing and 11,250 new-build social homes.

• Water: €2.3bn for Uisce Éireann, Ireland’s water utility, €1.5bn of it for building. The minister says that will move more than 400 projects forward, including connections for new homes.

• Transport: about €4.2bn for building, within €5.5bn for the department as a whole, plus an extra €6bn over 2027 to 2030 for MetroLink, Dublin’s planned metro, which the Government says could make room for up to 120,000 more homes.

• Climate, energy and environment: €1.3bn.

You can’t sell a house with no water connection, no transport and no power, so a lot of the money goes on the foundations and plumbing first.

Irish households pay through their bills too. The energy regulator, the CRU, has signed off up to €18.9bn of grid spending by EirGrid and ESB Networks between 2026 and 2030. It estimates that adds about €12 a year to a typical home's network charges, or €21 if the bigger version goes ahead. This year's rise was bigger. The CRU puts it at around €41.25 for a typical home from 1 October, or €3.44 a month, while the PSO levy fell to €0.51 a month.

What it means for you

Your bills. The network part of your energy bill will keep rising. Ofgem's net figure for Britain is roughly £30 a year by 2031. In Ireland, network charges went up by about €41 this October, and the grid plan alone adds €12 to €21 a year. Swings in gas and power prices will still move your bill far more than any of this.

Your taxes. In the UK, the next key date to watch is 28 October, Budget day, when the Office for Budget Responsibility also publishes its forecasts. If the government squeezes or stretches what it spends on building, you’ll see it then. Ireland resets its building budget every autumn.

Your job. NISTA estimates the UK pipeline needs between 629,000 and 706,000 workers a year over the next five years, and more than two thirds of that demand is in construction. If anyone in your household is weighing up a trade, there will be work. Hard hats at the ready.

Your street. Expect some disruption closer to home: roadworks, new substations, gas and water repairs and, in some places, new overhead lines. If a big project is planned near you, there are stages where you can have your say, and for the largest schemes in England and Wales the government's guide explains how. Developers are encouraged to consult local people before they apply. They don't have to.

The short version

• The UK has £718bn of projects lined up over ten years, and half of it is energy.

• You pay through your taxes and through the network charge on your energy bill. For Britain’s grid upgrade, that’s about £2.50 a month extra by 2031.

• Ireland is spending €20.3bn next year, mostly on homes and the services new homes can't do without.

What we don’t know yet

When NISTA’s next update lands, what the 28 October Budget does to building budgets, and whether Ireland’s €275.4bn turns “into real projects”, as the minister promised. We’ll keep score.

If you want the day-to-day detail in the meantime, The Wire covers UK and Irish infrastructure decisions and contracts every weekday morning, and it’s free: gridteamai.com/wire-archive. And if you’re curious about what’s being built near you, have a nose around our live map.

See the projects your money is paying for, county by county, at gridteamai.com/projects-near-you.

Next week: a Budget special on what the 28 October Budget means for what gets built, and for your bills.

See you next week.

Anthony

Sources

1. Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (gov.ie), “Statement by Minister Chambers on Budget 2027”, 6 October 2026. Link

2. Department of the Taoiseach (gov.ie), “Government publishes updated National Development Plan”, 22 July 2025. Link

3. NISTA and HM Treasury (GOV.UK), “Infrastructure Pipeline update signals future workforce needs”, 9 March 2026. Link

4. Government Project Delivery (projectdelivery.gov.uk), “Updated pipeline helps the country build better”, 10 March 2026. Link

5. Commission for Regulation of Utilities, “CRU Approves Record Investment in Ireland’s Electricity Grid and Network”, 16 December 2025. Link

6. Commission for Regulation of Utilities, “CRU approves 2026/27 electricity network charges and reduced PSO Levy”, 29 July 2026. Link

7. Ofgem, “RIIO-3 Final Determinations Overview Document”, 4 December 2025. Link

8. Ofgem, “Energy price cap will rise by 4% from October 2026”, 26 August 2026. Link

9. HM Treasury (GOV.UK), “Chancellor letter to the Treasury Select Committee (TSC): Budget 2026 date”, 31 July 2026. Link

10. Planning Inspectorate (GOV.UK), “Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects: the stages of the NSIP process and how you can have your say”, updated 30 July 2026. Link

11. Office for National Statistics, “Population estimates for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2025”, 1 October 2026 (UK population 69,483,900; £718bn ÷ 69.48 million = about £10,300 per person). Link

12. Central Statistics Office, “Population and Migration Estimates, April 2026”, 24 August 2026 (population 5,525,600; €20.3bn ÷ 5.53 million = about €3,670 per person). Link

13. ICE, “NISTA pipeline roundtable write-up”, April 2026 (”NISTA is committed to updating the pipeline every six months”). Link