National Energy System Operator: Blackout Risk

Bill Esterson Excerpts

Wednesday 15th July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Last week the Committee heard from Claire Dykta, the director of strategy and policy at NESO, who told us:

“Operational decisions are taken by authorised, trained personnel only.”

Her comments were confirmed by Alastair Martin, the chief strategy officer at Flexitricity, who, in the same session, said:

“I do not think the idea that the head office at NESO told the control room what to do is plausible.”

Does the Minister agree that it is important for public reassurance, especially at a time of threats to energy security, that the line is not crossed in any way between properly evidenced scrutiny on one hand and conjecture on the basis of rumour, which is verging on scaremongering, on the other?

[Michael Shanks]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s comments. Let me first reiterate that, as I said a moment ago, incredibly skilled staff work in the control room 24/7 to ensure that we are balancing our electricity demand and supply across the country, and have done so without any disruption to that supply; I pay tribute to the work that they do.

What I said earlier in response to the shadow Secretary of State was not that the allegations that have emerged today were somehow scaremongering. If whistleblowers have raised concerns, it is right and proper that we investigate them fully, and we will absolutely do that. However, it is scaremongering to take to social media or come to the House and somehow imply that we were close to blackouts, which is simply not the case. We have a responsibility in this House not to ratchet up the rhetoric simply to get some retweets on Twitter, but to take seriously the job of balancing our energy system, as we did every single day—and NESO has confirmed that.