London, March 26, 2026, 13:29 GMT
National Grid shares fell about 2% on Thursday, giving back part of Wednesday’s 2.44% rise, even after the company unveiled a new artificial-intelligence grid deal in New York a day earlier. The shares were quoted around 1,237 pence in London trade, down from a 1,262 pence close on Wednesday, while the FTSE 100 was off about 1.3%. 1
The move matters because National Grid, which runs electricity and gas networks in Britain and the northeastern United States, has tied its next growth phase to rising power demand and heavier grid spending. On March 2, the company raised planned investment to at least £70 billion through fiscal 2031, accepted RIIO-T3 — the five-year UK transmission price-control regime that sets allowed spending and returns from April 2026 to March 2031 — and said 2027 adjusted earnings per share should grow 13%-15%. Chief Executive Zoë Yujnovich said then: “We are expanding our record levels of investment to at least £70 billion by FY31.” 2
National Grid said on Wednesday it would work with GridCARE to identify spare capacity in New York and connect large-load customers more quickly. The companies said traditional connection processes can take three to seven years, while the AI-based system could cut that to six to 12 months. 3
“The fastest and least-expensive way to add capacity to the grid is to leverage megawatts already hidden there,” Steve Smith, National Grid’s chief strategy officer, said in the release. The pitch lands as utilities and policymakers try to pin down surging data-centre power use, which Reuters has reported has become one of the main bottlenecks in the wider AI buildout. 3
The stock had already bounced before Thursday’s pullback. National Grid rose 1.73% on Tuesday and 2.44% on Wednesday, beating the FTSE 100 both days, though Wednesday’s close still left it about 12% below its early-March peak and trading volume was above the 50-day average. 4
Broker views are now splitting. Goldman Sachs cut National Grid to neutral from buy on March 24 and lowered its price target to 1,389 pence from 1,450 pence; it also cut peer SSE to neutral. A day later, Bernstein’s Deepa Venkateswaran kept a buy call and lifted her target to 1,450 pence, underscoring how divided the market is on how much upside remains. 5
But the downside case has not gone away. Oil rose more than 4% on Thursday as traders worried the Middle East conflict could drag on, and a Reuters poll showed economists now expect the Bank of England to hold Bank Rate at 3.75% through year-end after abandoning earlier calls for cuts. For utilities, higher bond yields can dull the appeal of steady dividend income. “We do think the risk of hikes has increased and will continue to rise the longer the Middle East conflict persists,” Gabriella Willis, UK economist at Santander CIB, said in the poll. 6
National Grid’s next scheduled checkpoint is its 2025/26 full-year results on May 14. 7
