The daily cost of balancing GB's grid
Loading NESO's latest figures…
The data file couldn't be loaded. Try refreshing the page.
Latest 365 days
£0.0bn
Latest 30 days
£000m
Average per day, whole period
£0.0m
Most expensive day
£00.0m
Daily cost
Each day's total across all categories, with a 30-day trailing average.
Daily total30-day average
Monthly cost by type
Calendar-month totals; the latest month is part-month.
- Constraints
- Paying generators to change their output because the grid can't carry power to where it's needed – typically paying Scottish wind farms to turn down and gas plants nearer demand to turn up. Now the bulk of the cost.
- Reserve
- Keeping power stations, batteries and other sources on standby, ready to raise or cut output at short notice if demand or supply changes unexpectedly, such as a large power station tripping off.
- Other
- Smaller items: matching overall supply and demand second to second ("energy imbalance"), keeping the grid's frequency close to 50 Hz, and services such as restarting the grid after a blackout. Can net negative, as NESO sometimes sells energy back.
By financial year
April to March. The current year is year to date.
| Year | Days | Total | Constraints | Constraint share | Avg / day |
|---|
Every day
In pounds, by NESO cost category. Settlement periods is the number of half-hours NESO reported (48 normally, 46 or 50 on clock-change days); greyed rows are missing a half-hour, so their totals may be slightly low. Hover a column heading for what it covers.