Price tag for troubled SAP project will skyrocket to nearly $1 billion, audit says

"It's important to understand that many of the issues referenced in the audit report date back to November 2012 when we initially launched SAP," National Grid spokeswoman Jackie Barry said via email. "There were many factors that led to those issues, but the system is now substantially stable."

In a letter released with the audit, National Grid said it didn't agree with all of its conclusions but "generally accepts" its recommendations.

The audit also includes a number of reasons National Grid gave for why the project stumbled, including an "overly ambitious design," lack of accountability, poor data quality from the legacy systems and ineffective training.

Company shareholders, and not ratepayers, will absorb the extra costs of fixing the system, according to the Public Service Commission.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com