We’re upgrading the electricity network to make it more reliable, resilient, and ready for the future - supporting your everyday needs and the North West's journey to a greener, cleaner future.
Network investment
We're delivering the largest ever investment in the North West’s power network, investing over £1bn between 2023 and 2028.
Why we're here
Our capital programme delivers the network investment needed to strengthen the electricity network, improve reliability, support low carbon technologies, and create a cleaner, greener, more resilient energy future to meet the needs of our communities.
Capital delivery programme
A dedicated single function to deliver our network investment
£1bn
Half a million pounds per day on major projects - the largest ever investment in the network
Investment across our region
Over £40m in Cumbria, over £33m in Lancashire, and over £32m in Greater Manchester
Future-proofing
We're building a better future, quicker for everyone
Network investment frequently asked questions
Investment in Greater Manchester
A £32m plus programme, the investment includes seven sites covering Salford, Cheetham Hill, West Didsbury, and the city centre to build more capacity in the next five years. This will create new capacity equivalent to 150,000 homes and businesses, enabling more renewable energy generation and the take up of electric vehicles and heating.
Manchester development plan
Releasing network capacity to facilitate our stakeholders’ major planned developments and decarbonisation plans
Oldham investment
A record investment, with £13m being spent upgrading the power network
Frederick Road transformers
A £12m replacement of three large Grid transformers at our Salford depot
Salford investment
An £11.6m investment to the 132,000-volt electricity infrastructure throughout Salford
Investment in Cumbria
A £40m plus programme is our largest ever in Cumbria! It will see us replace 154km of 132,000-volt overhead line, creating 230 meggawatts of additional capacity on the network, enabling more renewable energy generation and increase take up of electric vehicles and heating.
The Cumbria Ring
Releasing network capacity to facilitate our stakeholders’ major planned developments and decarbonisation plans
Harker substation
A £60m new 132,000-volt substation to feed the Cumbria Ring
Barrow investment
A £4.5m investment to replace ageing high-voltage cable circuits
Tebay investment
A £14m investment to install 11km of 33,000-volt underground electricity cables and a new substation
Investment in Lancashire
A £33m plus programme will see us replace essential equipment and increase capacity at 11 substations across Blackpool, Preston, Lower Darwen, Rossendale, Lancaster, Tarleton, Nelson, Burscough Bridge and Clitheroe, creating more capacity and ensuring the network is ready for greener technologies like electric cars and heat pumps.
Nelson Investment
£4m investment to install 6km of underground electricity cables and assets
Rochdale investment
£1.9 Million investment to improve Rochdale’s electricity Infrastructure
Innovation embedded in our network investment programme
Leading the way in developing ground-breaking, flexible solutions driven by the changing needs of our customers in a low carbon future, delivered by our network investment programme.
LineSIGHT
Identifies developing issues before they happen and help fix power cuts quicker if they occur
CLASS
Award-winning, cutting edge voltage control to reduce demand for electricity, without customers noticing a difference to their supply
Smart Street
Innovative voltage control to enable your appliances to perform more efficiently and make it easier to adopt low carbon technologies
Net Zero Terrace
Decarbonising an entire terraced street using a Smart Local Energy System integrated with the network, optimised and affordable to customers
Unlooping
Separating shared electricity supply connections between properties, providing each household with its own dedicated supply. A £4 million invstment to proactively unloop approximately 1,500 properties.
Unlooping
Increased demand on the network for greener technologies means households need a dedicated electricity supply
Delivering investment in our region through capital projects
By 2040, 1.4 million electric vehicles will be on the roads and over one million heat pumps... the demand for power will have increased by a third.
We're investing billions in the operation, maintenance and upgrading of the region’s electricity network to support this transition.
It also means investing in the resilience of the network to reduce customers’ time without power by 20% by developing and delivering our cutting-edge engineering innovations to keep the network reliable, efficient and safe.
We aim to minimise disruptions to your daily life by carefully planning our work. We will always notify you in advance before any planned works commence.
Our network investment programme will...
Our capital delivery programme helps local homes, communities and businesses grow sustainably by enabling technologies like electric vehicles, solar panels, and heat pumps.
We’re committed to delivering projects efficiently and with minimal disruption, while ensuring long-term benefits for customers, communities, and the environment.
Transparent communication and meaningful engagement are central to our approach—we listen, respond, and collaborate to deliver outcomes that reflect stakeholder needs.
Through smart planning and innovation, we deliver cost-effective upgrades that benefit and long-lasting value to you, the community, and the environment.