- Business
- National Grid plc National Grid plc (NNGF.DE) is a British multinational electricity and gas utility company that owns and operates high-voltage electricity transmission networks in England and Wales; electricity distribution networks serving nearly 8 million customers in the East Midlands, West Midlands, South West England, and Wales through its National Grid Electricity Distribution (formerly Western Power Distribution); natural gas transmission networks across Great Britain; electricity and gas distribution and transmission networks in the Northeastern United States, including New York and Massachusetts via subsidiaries such as Niagara Mohawk Power, Massachusetts Electric, and Boston Gas; and electricity interconnectors such as BritNed with the Netherlands and IFA with France. Headquartered in London, United Kingdom, the company traces its origins to 1990 when transmission activities from the Central Electricity Generating Board were transferred to the National Grid Company plc, with operations spanning the UK and US Northeast serving over 20 million customers. It focuses on utility companies, power generators, large industrial users, residential, commercial, and industrial customers in regulated energy markets.
National Grid plc invests heavily in infrastructure, committing £60 billion from 2024 to 2029 (£29 billion in the UK and £31 billion in the US) to modernize networks, support renewables integration, and meet rising power demand, including progress on six Wave 1 Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment projects, planning approvals for Wave 2 initiatives like Norwich to Tilbury, and the Smart Path Connect upgrade of over 100 miles of lines in upstate New York. Recent divestitures streamline its portfolio to prioritize core networks: it sold National Grid Renewables US onshore renewables business to Brookfield Asset Management for $2.1 billion in May 2025; agreed to sell Grain LNG terminal at Isle of Grain to a consortium of Energy Capital Partners and Centrica plc for £1.5-1.66 billion enterprise value, with the deal announced in August 2025; completed full divestment of its stake in National Gas (UK gas transmission) by September 2024; and divested UK gas distribution interests to Cadent Gas by 2019. Supply chain advancements include an £8 billion Electricity Transmission Partnership for substations, a £12 billion HVDC framework, and over $3 billion in New England capital works partnerships, alongside achieving £100 million in synergies from the 2021 Western Power Distribution acquisition six months early.