UK Power Networks

UK Power Networks (UKPN) is a company that helps bring electricity to homes and businesses in parts of England. It looks after the electricity networks in South East England, the East of England, and London. These networks cover a large area of 30,000 square kilometres and serve about eight million people.

UK Power Networks manages three main electricity networks: Eastern Power Networks, South Eastern Power Networks, and London Power Networks. It also works on special projects, building and fixing electricity systems for places like the London Underground, Heathrow, and Stansted airports, as well as the Docklands Light Railway and Canary Wharf.

There are 14 companies in England, called distribution network operators, that each take care of the electricity networks in their own area. UK Power Networks is one of these companies, and all of them are watched over by a group called Ofgem to make sure they do their job well.

History

The area was originally made up of three networks: the London Electricity Board, the Eastern Electricity Board, and the South Eastern Electricity Board, known as SEEBOARD. These were later brought together by EDF Energy to form EDF Energy Networks. UK Power Networks started operating in October 2010 after the sale of EDF Energy Networks to the Cheung Kong Group for £5.5 billion.

In 2011, UK Power Networks received £6.7 million from Ofgem for its Flexible Plug and Play project. This project looked for new ways to connect renewable energy to the power network in Cambridgeshire. In 2014, it was awarded £25 million from Ofgem’s Low Carbon Networks Fund for the Low Carbon London project.

Ownership

UK Power Networks is owned by Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings (40%), Power Assets Holdings (40%), and The Li Ka Shing Foundation (20%).

In February 2026, Engie agreed to buy UKPN for £10.5 billion.

Open Data Portal

UK Power Networks has an Open Data Portal. The information shared there is available under special rules, either Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licensing or UK Open Government 3.0 (OGL UK 3.0) licensing when needed.