In November 2021, National Grid and Scottish Power agreed to pay a penalty of £158million, after an Ofgem investigation determined these delays had increased consumer bills by limiting the amount of renewable power that could be sent from Scotland to the south of the UK. The investigation determined the delays were primarily caused by land acquisition problems, manufacturing problems, installation of cables and commissioning tests. £15million of the penalty was paid into the regulator's redress scheme, which distributes money to charities and other organisations which help energy consumers; the rest was indirectly returned to consumers through changes to Ofgem's calculation of transmission costs in the national network.
