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The Wire Monday 26 October |
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The Wire · Monday 26 October Good morning. Here is what the sources released 👇 |
Ten items overnight, every one dated, opened at the primary source and checked before it went in, with our read on each. Three minutes with your coffee and you are up to speed. |
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Diesel 199.3p ↓ 0.7p | Brent $117 ↑ $4 | Power £71 ↓ £96 | CPIH 3.6% ↑ 0.3 | Bank Rate 3.75% – | GBP/USD $1.34 ↓ |
The Pulse · figures to 24 Oct · the full board → |
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01 |
 Rail · Network Rail · 25 October 2026
Storm Boelo disrupts rail across north-west England
Storm Boelo brought flooding, fallen trees and damaged overhead lines to railways across north-west England on Sunday. Network Rail engineers worked through the weekend to clear the lines and restore services.
| | Our read Rail's weather resilience bill keeps rising, and a single named storm now reliably knocks out a region's timetable for days rather than hours. |
Read the source → |
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02 |
 Energy & Grid · Electricity North West · 25 October 2026
Storm Boelo leaves 22,000 homes without power in north-west
Released by Electricity North West |
Energy & Grid |
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Electricity North West said Storm Boelo's 78mph gusts caused more than 250 faults across Cumbria and Lancashire. More than 30,000 properties have had power restored, with about 22,000 still off and crews handling over 5,500 calls. The firm is targeting full restoration by 6pm on Tuesday 27 October.
| | Our read A two-day restoration window for a single storm shows how exposed overhead rural networks still are, years into the undergrounding programme this sector keeps announcing. |
Read the source → |
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03 |
 Water · Uisce Éireann · 25 October 2026
Boil water notice hits 8,000 customers after Storm Boelo
Uisce Éireann issued a boil water notice for about 8,000 customers in Newport, Birdhill and Ballina after Storm Boelo washed extra silt and dirt into the Mulkear River, which feeds the local treatment plant and became too cloudy to treat safely. The utility is upgrading filtration and working with the HSE to lift the notice.
| | Our read A silt problem knocking out supply for 8,000 customers shows raw-water quality is as big a risk as treatment capacity when a storm like Boelo hits. |
Read the source → |
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04 |
Energy & Grid · E.ON UK · 23 October 2026
E.ON sets out three-point plan to cut bills before Budget
E.ON UK published a three-point plan ahead of the 28 October Budget, warning the January 2027 price cap could pass £2,000 a year. It points to Energy UK figures showing £5.5 billion of energy debt, rising to £7 billion by year end, and calls for the £15 billion Warm Homes Plan to be protected. It also cites a Coventry battery pilot saving households about £255 a year.
| | Our read E.ON stands to gain from the schemes it wants protected, and the £7 billion debt figure behind its appeal is real regardless of who is making the case. |
Read the source → |
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05 |
 Gas · Ofgem · 22 October 2026
Ofgem consults on keeping gas import capacity at current level
Ofgem is consulting on a plan from National Gas and Interconnector Ltd to hold Britain's import capacity from the Belgium gas link at current winter levels for 2026/27 and future winters. The regulator says the move is a resilience precaution rather than a sign of shortage. The consultation closes on 20 November 2026.
| | Our read Locking in today's capacity while demand for gas-fired flexibility keeps climbing is Ofgem paying for insurance now, so it is not scrambling for it later. |
Read the source → |
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06 |
 Flood & Coastal · Defra · 22 October 2026
Defra unveils £25m peatland restoration grant scheme
Defra has created a £25 million Peatland Restoration Grant Scheme, which Natural England will run from April 2027 to April 2029, building on the existing Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme. The announcement was made at a UK wildfire summit on 22 October 2026.
| | Our read This is continuity rather than new ambition, so the real test is whether £25 million over two years stretches as far as the scheme it replaces did. |
Read the source → |
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07 |
Rail · Network Rail · 21 October 2026
Industry names first integrated chief customer officer for rail
David Horne, currently managing director of LNER, has been appointed the rail industry's first integrated Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, starting in November. The role is described as a step towards Great British Railways, bringing customer and commercial functions together across the network for the first time.
| | Our read Putting one person in charge of customer and commercial decisions across every operator is the clearest signal yet that Great British Railways means one company culture, built from the ground up, rather than a shared brand bolted onto several. |
Read the source → |
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08 |
Rail · Department for Transport · 20 October 2026
Government confirms new Bradford station under rail programme
The Department for Transport confirmed a new Bradford Interchange station will be built under Northern Powerhouse Rail, replacing the 1970s station. The new station is expected to open in the 2030s.
| | Our read A 2030s opening date for a station confirmed today tells you how long this country's rail programme now runs, and how much can change before a shovel goes in the ground. |
Read the source → |
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09 |
 Storage · Ørsted UK · 20 October 2026
Ørsted completes one of Europe's largest battery storage sites
Ørsted UK has finished building the Iceni battery energy storage system near Norwich, made up of 170 Tesla Megapack units with a capacity of 600 megawatt hours and 300 megawatts of output. The company describes it as one of the largest battery storage systems in Europe once it is energised.
| | Our read Battery storage at this scale is starting to look like standard grid kit rather than a one-off trial, which is what a grid leaning harder on wind and solar now needs. |
Read the source → |
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10 |
Energy & Grid · SSEN Distribution · 24 October 2026
Storm Austen leaves 2,200 SSEN customers without power in southern England
SSEN Distribution said it had restored power to more than 42,400 customers across its central southern England network since Storm Austen began, with wind speeds reaching up to 70mph at the storm's peak. It still had 2,200 customers without power at 8pm on 24 October, with fallen trees and debris blocking roads and access tracks. The operator expected around half of those remaining to be reconnected by the end of the night.
| | Our read Restoring 42,400 connections since the storm began is decent going against a proper battering, and the 2,200 still off are the usual stragglers, furthest down the line and hardest to reach. |
Read the source → |
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Monday · on the map
56 projects changed this week Peterhead Carbon Capture Power Station (SSE Thermal & Equinor) (Carbon Capture): Section 36 application under determination, additional upstream emissions assessments complete, pre-construction Project Gigabit Fife, Perth & Kinross (tender) (Digital & Telecoms): Tender closed, award pending Pennywell (Hilltop Park) (Housing & Development): Under construction (started September 2025) Middlewood Locks (Housing & Development): Around half delivered, 909-home Phase 4 funded July 2026, start on site targeted early 2027
Every change → Follow a sector →
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On the house 👍
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