In an article by Nils Pratley at The Guardian, it looks like it could be SSE.

Martin Pibworth, Chief Executive at SSE, said that it was a "once in a generation opportunity to upgrade the UK electricity network" and after the recent soar in SSE's share price as a result of their announcement of £33bn of planned spending over the next 5 years, it's easy to see where his excitement comes from.

But Nils asks, 'Has the regulator Ofgem - under orders from the government to get the upgrade done by 2030 – had to throw gold in the path of SSE, Scottish Power and National Grid Group, the trio behind the overall £80bn network investment programme?

This then raises the question about what this means for both domestic and business consumers. Are they about to be hit with large increases in order to foot the bill?

It's certainly looking that way.

Last week, Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said the following in a speech at Cornwall Insight's conference.

He said: “Ofgem proposes significant upfront investment, leading to higher network charges. This raises major concerns about affordability for consumers and businesses - particularly the SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] - the backbone of our economy.

“These transmission costs risk significant bill increases early next year - £42 rise for domestic customers, and businesses face increases of 70% on average and some will see these [network] charges doubling next year. For businesses, this average 70% rise in network costs could translate to increases of 5%-10% in their total bills.”

For further insight and Nils' thoughts, you can read the full article over at The Guardian website.

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