Great Britain’s energy grid operator was forced to ask France for emergency electricty supply via undersea cables on Monday (October 12) due to “reduced network capability”. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is a publicly owned corporation that manages and plans the UK’s electricity and gas networks. In a statement today a NESO spokesperson said that following an “unexpected delay to the return to service of transmission infrastructure, we took established operational action to maintain the secure operation of Great Britain’s electricity system, requesting additional imports through Emergency Assistance arrangements”.
In a more detailed statement posted on X yesterday, NESO said it came after it was “informed that a National Grid Electricity Transmission asset expected to return to service would be delayed” which “reduced network capability during the afternoon period”.
After an assessment was carried out into the impact of the delay, NESO “issued an initial Emergency Assistance at 16:52 in accordance with established operational procedures”. It explained that Emergency Assistance are “formal operational tools available to system operators when immediate action is required to maintain system security”·
The corporation said as part of that assistance it “initially requested an additional 700MW of imports via the French interconnector before requesting a further 500MW, providing up to 1,200MW of additional support to help maintain system security”.
Bloomberg News reported that it was the largest request of this kind since at least 2024. The NESO spokesperson said electricity supplies “remained secure throughout and there was no interruption to customers”.
The said its control room “continuously monitors the electricity system and has a range of tools available to respond to changing network conditions”.
The UK has cables connecting to the likes of France and Belgium as part of its energy security strategy, ensuring it has backup power if any shortages occur.
The two-way system also allows Britain to support European partners when they have network issues, notably sending supply to France for months in 2022 after issues with their nuclear reactor fleet.
It’s particularly important for the south of England, which makes up the largest share of the nation’s power demand, giving planners the capability to bypass bottlenecks in other parts of the country and add supply directly.
It comes as the UK’s energy networks have been left more vulnerable amid the fall out from US and Israeli attacks on Iran this year, which led to massive disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. This sent energy prices skyrocketing and made Britain more vulnerable to supply shortages.
However, as NESO explained, the issue in this case was caused by the delayed return of an asset to service. But according to Bloomberg, it’s the fourth time energy assistance has been requested in 2026, potentially indicating a need for greater support amid supply issues.
Shivam Malhotra, head of power trading at LCP Delta, a consultancy focused on energy transition, told the news agency Emergency Assistance is “supposed to be a last resort tool” held back for “true emergencies”.
“We’ve been in an unusual couple of months for the system with high gas prices, very windy and therefore a constrained system,” he added.
