Balancing costs up 25% in 2025 with Britain hitting the £2bn mark faster than any year since the 2022 energy crisis, NIA analysis of NESO data shows.

Households and businesses face soaring system costs to cover gaps in variable generation.

NIA calls for new, price-predictable, baseload nuclear capacity to cut reliance on expensive gas and stabilise bills.

Britain spent £2.1 billion balancing its electricity grid between January and September this year — a 25% increase compared with the same period last year — according to new analysis by the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) of data from the National Energy System Operator (NESO).

The analysis shows that Britain hit the £2 billion mark faster than in any year since the 2022 energy crisis, when record gas prices sent system costs soaring. Balancing costs have risen as gas-fired power plants continue to set the benchmark electricity price 97% of the time, the highest rate in Europe.

Balancing costs are payments made by NESO to match electricity supply and demand in real time. These costs surge when variable output is excessive or too low, and gas-fired plants are brought online closer to demand centres, leaving consumers exposed to volatile fossil fuel prices.

Energy UK says system costs add £32 to a typical household bill and projects that balancing costs could double again by 2030 if the system remains dependent on fossil fuels, highlighting the urgent need for more reliable, price-predictable nuclear power to reduce dependence on expensive gas.

Tom Greatrex, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said:

“Every pound spent on balancing costs adds to bills, but creates no jobs, generates no power nor any long-term value: consumers are paying the price for historic underinvestment in nuclear. This is why decisions to invest in new nuclear projects like Sizewell C and a fleet of small modular reactors will deliver high-skilled employment, lower bills, strengthen energy security, and provide dependable, low-carbon electricity for generations.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

  1. NESO publishes monthly balancing cost data here: https://www.neso.energy/industry-information/balancing-costs
  2. Energy UK says in 2024 £32 of a typical household bill covers system costs and projects that the cost of paying power stations to turn their output up and down will rise from £2.4 billion in 2023/24 to £4.7 billion by 2030: Page 8 & 11, Energy UK Report: How to Cut Bills, March 2025
  3. France’s day-ahead power price is set by gas 7% of the time and Sweden 1%, due to their strong nuclear and low-carbon generation mix: https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/19109/1/1-s2.0-S2352484723013057-main.pdf
  4. The UK’s nine operating reactors across five sites provide around 14% of the country’s electricity from 5.9 GW of capacity. Of the current fleet, only Sizewell B will remain in operation after March 2030. Hinkley Point C is due online later this decade.

About the NIA
As the trade association for the civil nuclear industry in the UK, the Nuclear Industry
Association represents over 300 companies across the UK’s nuclear supply chain.

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For further information, please contact:
Iolo James
Head of Communications
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