Ed Miliband is up to his neck in another energy mess, after it emerged staff at his shiny new energy watchdog can still cash in on shares from the very company they are meant to oversee.
The National Energy System Operator, known as Neso, was carved out of National Grid in October 2024 and sold as a great Labour fix, a supposedly independent non profit acting for bill payers, not big business.
But here is the sting. After the carve up, staff were handed six months to buy discounted National Grid shares, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, worth £57bn and raking in billions in profit.
So while Neso oversees National Grid’s operations and future investments, some of its own employees stand to make money if the share price rises. That is the same National Grid tasked with rewiring Britain for Miliband’s net zero obsession.
Conservative and Reform UK MPs smelled trouble straight away. Richard Tice, Reform’s energy spokesman, said: “The Neso regulator’s staff could be financially rewarded for being a softer touch with the entity they regulate. They used to call that a conflict of interest.
“A Reform government would remove the net zero obligations from Neso’s remit and enforce a total reset of its objectives, focused on secure, plentiful, reliable, cheap electricity.”
Labour bought Neso for £630m last year, claiming it would remove any perceived conflicts of interest with National Grid. Instead, critics say Miliband has simply shuffled the problem next door.
Energy analyst Kathryn Porter did not mince her words, saying: “It’s completely inappropriate for staff to own these shares. They should be sold and staff made whole for any loss arising from the forced sale.
“This position is completely untenable. Declare the extent of the share ownership issue and start a divestment process.”
Neso admits staff have been allowed to keep their shares, but refuses to say how many of its 2,000 employees still own them.
This all matters because National Grid is central to Labour’s green drive. It builds the cables and pylons needed to push wind and solar power across the country. Decisions taken by Neso can directly boost Grid revenues, and with them the share price. That price has already jumped more than 20pc in the past year as investors pile into renewables.
At the top, the rewards are eye watering. As reported in the Telegraph, Neso chief executive Fintan Slye is on £288,000 a year, plus a £275,400 bonus and benefits, taking his total package to £774,000.
A Neso spokesman insisted: “Whilst a small minority of Neso staff retain minimal shares in National Grid, they are subject to very strict energy share ownership policy rules, underpinned by law, which requires permission if they ever want to sell, to ensure the highest standards of propriety and ethics.”
National Grid confirmed shares had been offered to Neso staff at a 20pc discount for six months, a scheme now closed.
The watchdog is a private company controlled by the Energy Secretary, not covered by the UK Corporate Governance Code. Its directors face no annual re election and its staff are not civil servants.
For Miliband and Labour, it is another case of do as we say, not as we do, as ordinary families struggle with bills while the green quango class keeps one eye on the share price.
