- U.K. ministers have backed away from threats to break up National Grid (NGG +0.6%) and instead will order the company to establish stricter controls to prevent conflicts of interest in its role operating Britain’s electricity system, Financial Times reports.
- New independent directors will be appointed to a separate board overseeing system operations but the operating unit will not be split off, under a compromise deal to be announced in coming weeks, according to the report.
- Concerns about conflicts of interest have focused on NGG's interconnector business, which imports electricity from France and is building a further link with Norway, potentially causing competition with domestic sources of power generation vying for access to the transmission system.