The National Grid for electricity was privatised under John Major in the mid-1990s. There was never any public interest in privatising natural monopolies, as many of us complained at the time. There was no market pressure to raise efficiency, the major justification for removing consumer-facing bodies from public control. This also made it more difficult for the power distributors to be compelled to take account of sensitive environments, for instance by undergroundng power lines in AONBs.
Now another drawback, which could have been foreseen, has come to light. There has been a failure to develop the grid network to match the growing generation capacity of Wales, in particular of renewable energy. There has clearly been poor coordination between the several different private generators in Wales, the plc controlling the grid and Western Power Distribution. If still in public hands, the grid could have been directed to achieve that. The Welsh Government has stepped in to the gap, though with little power it seems to me to force matters. (What are the UK's Department for Business and Ofgem doing about it?)
This is not a problem for the rest of Britain where the reduction of economic activtiy due to Brexit will reduce pressure on the electricity supply. It is a pity that one of the few growth areas in Wales, rebalancing the electricity supply because of renewables, should be hampered.
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