National Gas

National Gas is the operator of Britain's national gas network and describes itself as the backbone of the country's energy system. The business owns, builds, manages and maintains critical gas infrastructure across Great Britain, transporting gas through nearly 5,000 miles of pipes to power stations, major industries, storage facilities, and more than half a million businesses and 24 million homes. Its regulated operating company, National Gas Transmission plc, owns, manages and operates the high-pressure National Transmission System (NTS), the principal pipeline network that moves gas reliably to wherever it is needed in Britain. The organisation comprises three National Gas businesses plus Premtech. National Gas Transmission runs the high-pressure national network; National Gas Metering manages and maintains millions of traditional gas meters throughout Great Britain; National Gas Services provides nationally important emergency and planned pipeline repair and maintenance services; and Premtech provides multi-disciplinary engineering design services for high-pressure onshore pipelines and associated infrastructure. At a glance, the group reports more than 1,600 employees, 5,000 miles of pipeline, more than 60 compressors at 21 compressor sites and more than 500 above-ground installations. Customers directly connected to the NTS include 3 LNG terminals, 3 gas interconnectors (connecting with Belgium, The Netherlands and Ireland), 129 gas distribution offtakes, 35 gas power stations, 15 gas industrial users and 9 gas storage sites. National Gas was created out of National Grid plc. In March 2022 National Grid announced the disposal of a 60% equity interest in its UK gas transmission and metering business to a consortium of long-term infrastructure investors comprising Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. The disposal completed in January 2023 and transferred to a new holding company, GasT TopCo Limited, owned by National Grid (40%) and the consortium (60%). In February 2023 the business was rebranded and the regulated operating company was renamed National Gas Transmission plc. The consortium increased its equity interest to 80% in March 2024, exercised an option to acquire the final 20% in July 2024, and completed the acquisition of National Grid's remaining stake in September 2024. As of the end of September 2024 the owners are Macquarie Asset Management (60.09%), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (27.71%) and Australian Retirement Trust (12.20%). Strategically, National Gas positions gas as an essential part of a secure energy supply that will continue to play a vital role in the energy system for decades, while also leading the transformation of the network for a clean energy future. The company argues that gas provides the energy security to support renewable electricity generation, and it is developing a national hydrogen network, including plans to connect Scottish industrial clusters to Teesside. Its public messaging emphasises securing Britain's energy, achieving net zero and maintaining industrial competitiveness.

The gas industry that National Gas today operates has deep roots in Britain. According to the company's own history of the industry, the era of manufactured gas began in the 1790s, when Scotsman William Murdoch developed an experimental plant to manufacture gas from coal to light his home in Redruth. Recalled to the works of his employers Boulton and Watt in Smethwick in 1798, he experimented further with gas lighting and by 1805 had started to supply commercial gas plants designed to improve lighting in the factories and mills of the industrial revolution. The first company to provide a public gas supply was established in London in 1812: the Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company, whose first gasworks were operational by 1813. Gasworks became the centre of networks manufacturing and distributing gas for lighting streets, public buildings and private homes, creating the first public energy utility industry. Over the next 50 years the industry expanded across the British Isles and overseas, and improved burners enabled gas to move into heating and cooking, offsetting competition from electricity towards the end of the 19th century. In 1949 the British gas industry was nationalised, amalgamating more than a thousand separate undertakings. The industry later introduced liquefied natural gas (LNG) and converted to North Sea natural gas, and the transmission network grew. Restructuring followed, then privatisation and the move into a competitive market, and subsequently changes in ownership of the National Transmission System. National Gas in its current form is a product of the break-up of National Grid plc's gas businesses. In March 2022 National Grid announced the disposal of a 60% equity interest in its UK gas transmission and metering business to a consortium of long-term infrastructure investors comprising Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. The disposal completed in January 2023 and transferred to a new holding company, GasT TopCo Limited, owned by National Grid (40%) and the consortium (60%). In February 2023 the business was rebranded and the regulated operating company, which owns, manages and operates the gas National Transmission System, was renamed National Gas Transmission plc. In March 2024 the consortium increased its equity interest in the National Gas business to 80%, with National Grid maintaining a 20% interest. In July 2024 the consortium exercised the option to acquire the final 20% equity stake in the National Gas group from National Grid, and in September 2024 the disposal of the final 20% equity interest held by National Grid was completed. As of the end of September 2024 the owners are Macquarie Asset Management (60.09%), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (27.71%) and Australian Retirement Trust (12.20%). Today National Gas describes itself as Britain's national gas network and the backbone of the country's energy system. It transports gas across Great Britain, repairs and maintains gas pipelines, and manages the meters that allow power stations, businesses and millions of homes to access energy. The organisation comprises three National Gas businesses and Premtech: National Gas Transmission, which owns and operates the high-pressure National Transmission System; National Gas Metering, which manages and maintains millions of traditional gas meters throughout Great Britain; National Gas Services, which provides nationally important emergency and planned pipeline repair and maintenance services; and Premtech, which provides multi-disciplinary engineering design services for high-pressure onshore pipelines and associated infrastructure. The company reports more than 1,600 employees, 5,000 miles of pipeline, more than 60 compressors at 21 compressor sites and more than 500 above-ground installations. It is also developing a national hydrogen network, including a project to connect Scottish industrial clusters to Teesside.

• Era of manufactured gas begins in Britain; William Murdoch develops an experimental coal-gas plant.

• Chartered Gas Light and Coke Company established in London, the first public gas supply company.

• British gas industry nationalised, amalgamating more than a thousand undertakings.

• National Grid plc announces disposal of a 60% equity interest in its UK gas transmission and metering business to a consortium of Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation.

• Disposal of the 60% equity interest completed and transferred to new holding company GasT TopCo Limited, owned by National Grid (40%) and the consortium (60%).

• Business rebranded; regulated operating company renamed National Gas Transmission plc.

• Consortium increases equity interest in National Gas business to 80%; National Grid retains 20%.

• Consortium exercises option to acquire the final 20% equity stake in the National Gas group from National Grid.

• Disposal of the final 20% equity interest held by National Grid completed; owners become Macquarie Asset Management (60.09%), British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (27.71%) and Australian Retirement Trust (12.20%).

Britain's national gas network and the backbone of the country's energy system, balancing energy security with the transition to net zero.

• National Transmission System (NTS)

  High-pressure national gas network owned and operated by National Gas Transmission, transporting gas reliably to wherever it is needed in Britain.

• National Gas Metering

  Manages and maintains millions of traditional gas meters throughout Great Britain.

• National Gas Services

  Provides nationally important emergency and planned pipeline repair and maintenance services.

• Premtech

  Provides multi-disciplinary engineering design services for high-pressure onshore pipelines and associated infrastructure.

1. 1Homepage | National Gasnationalgas.com
2. 2History of the gas industry | National Gasnationalgas.com
3. 3Our history: National Gas | National Gasnationalgas.com
4. 4About Us | National Gasnationalgas.com
5. 5National Gaswikidata.org