Hinkley cost warning

BRITAIN’S energy regulator has hit out at the £840m cost of a network grid improvement to connect the Hinkley Point nuclear power station proposed by National Grid.

Ofgem said it is challenging around 20pc of National Grid’s costs, and put forward two options for using competition to save more.

One would be to put financing, construction and operation of the upgrade out to competitive tender, it said, adding: ‘Alternatively, Ofgem could estimate NG’s revenue for building and operating the infrastructure based on if the upgrade had been tendered on a fully competitive basis.’

Ofgem will make a final decision on the upgrade by the end of the year.