Independent · not affiliated with NESO
fintansbonus.money
Spending
What it costs to run NESO itself, as opposed to the grid. Both years come from the same annual report (the FY2024-25 report and its prior-year comparatives), so the definitions match. Nested items are shown as memo lines and never added to the totals.
Where the money goes
These five lines add up to NESO’s total operating costs before exceptional items. Balancing the grid accounts for most of the money. The organisation’s own running costs are the smaller part, but they are the part management controls most directly.
| Line (£ million) | FY2023-24 | FY2024-25 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| System balancing costs (statutory accounts) | £2,506m | £2,713m | +8.3% |
| Payroll costs (net of amounts capitalised) | £87.0m | £126m | +44.8% |
| Ofgem licence fee | £37.0m | £44.0m | +18.9% |
| Other operating costs | £218m | £337m | +54.6% |
| Depreciation, amortisation and impairment | £112m | £107m | −4.5% |
| Total operating costs before exceptional items | £2,960m | £3,327m |
The total is our sum of the lines shown, and it matches the £3,327m (FY2024-25) and £2,960m (FY2023-24) in note 3. Statutory operating costs after a £13m exceptional credit in FY2024-25 were £3,314m.
Running costs
Payroll, the Ofgem licence fee and other running costs together make the £507m NESO reports as “other costs of our operations”. Depreciation and amortisation are shown separately: they are the annual cost of past investment, mostly IT.
£ million
FY2023-24 vs FY2024-25. Payroll is shown net of amounts capitalised.
Memo items
These figures sit inside, or are capitalised from, the lines above. They are shown for scrutiny. Adding them to the totals would double count.
£14.0m
FY2024-25 · no prior-year comparator
Strategic advice to management. Excludes business-as-usual services and managed service providers.
£44.5m
FY2024-25 · no prior-year comparator
Temporary staff covering business-as-usual or service delivery work.
£24.0m
FY2024-25 · FY2023-24: £11.0m
Included within other operating costs.
£35.0m
FY2024-25 · FY2023-24: £28.0m
Staff costs moved onto the balance sheet as part of building assets, mainly IT systems.
£113m
FY2024-25 · FY2023-24: £148m
Cash spent on software assets, per the cash flow statement. Part of net capital investment.
£127m
FY2024-25 · FY2023-24: £148m
Cash spent on assets, mostly software and computer hardware for IT system development.
Staff
Employees at 31 Mar 2025
2,076
31 Mar 2024: 1,433 (+44.9%)
Average monthly employees, FY2024-25
1,850
FY2023-24: 1,246
NESO took on new roles in gas strategic planning, whole-energy markets and resilience when it was created, so some growth was expected. Whether it was the right amount is a fair question. This data alone doesn’t answer it.
Communications
Burson
£250,000
plus VAT, as reported
iNHouse Communications
£85,806
plus VAT, as reported
Total including VAT
≈ £400,000
approximate, as reported
Reported by The Times (supplied by the site owner). We haven’t been able to review the article text or a procurement notice ourselves, so these are shown as reported. They are organisational contracts paid by NESO, not payments to any individual. Contract dates are not confirmed.
In the game, Act IV (“The £400,000 PR Machine”) uses this figure. The conversation, Fintan’s motives and the decision are invented, and the £400,000 is never counted as Fintan’s bonus.