Stakeholder feedback from RIIO-2 workshops

On 2 October 2019, National Grid ESO will be holding a RIIO-2 Business Plan launch event, a day after it submits the second draft of this document to the Ofgem RIIO-2 Challenge Group. Ahead of the event, Alice Etheridge, RIIO-2 Stakeholder Senior Manager, updates on the recent stakeholder engagement workshops that were held at the National Control Centre.

We are over halfway through 2019 and we are currently in the midst of writing the ESO’s October business plan submission, where we set out the ambitious activities we want to deliver in the RIIO-2 period. To ensure our plans deliver maximum consumer and stakeholder benefit, we’ve engaged widely with stakeholders so everyone has the chance to challenge and feedback.

We recently ran a series of workshops at the Electricity National Control Centre where stakeholders - DNOs, trade bodies, suppliers and consumer groups  -gave their views on our July draft business plan. We wanted them to see how we operate the GB electricity system and the sheer size and scale of our IT systems, take a deeper dive into our business plan content and speak with the relevant SMEs.

Here we’ve summarised the feedback we received for each RIIO-2 theme, aligned to the four themes outlined in the business plan.

Theme 1 – Ensure reliable, secure system operation to deliver energy when consumers need it

Stakeholders made suggestions around how we could make our inclusive design authority approach to developing IS projects representative, including using trade associations to ensure representation by smaller parties. Stakeholders supported us taking a leading role to partner with others to train control room operators to meet a growing wider industry need.

Theme 2 – Transforming participation in smart and sustainable markets

There was strong support for proposals to transform balancing services markets and mixed views on whether we should take on administration of the EMR Rules. Stakeholders thought we needed to further demonstrate our improved performance with the codes we currently administer.

Theme 3 – Unlocking consumer value through competition in networks

Stakeholders agreed that we should be developing a methodology to compare network with non-network solutions in the Network Options Assessment (NOA) and that the process should be transparent. We also discussed onshore competition in transmission and the early competition plan that we are developing alongside our RIIO-2 Business Plan. 

Theme 4 – Driving towards a sustainable whole energy future

Stakeholders had mixed views on the extent to which we should make policy recommendations from the analysis we provide through our Future Energy Scenarios. Some people thought this went beyond our role. We also discussed how we should work with other parties that are producing their own energy scenarios and understand where different assumptions are being made in the analysis. It was agreed there is value in having regional perspectives.

Our stakeholders are central to ensuring we create an ambitious and compelling business plan, that will help us tackle future challenges, lead the energy transition and deliver more consumer benefit. We will continue to engage our stakeholders through various events and channels to ensure they have plenty of opportunities to feed into the ESO’s RIIO-2 process.

Business Plan launch event

On 2 October 2019, National Grid ESO will be holding a RIIO-2 Business Plan launch event in Central London. The event comes a day after the ESO submits the second draft of the RIIO-2 Business plan to the Ofgem RIIO-2 Challenge Group. The RIIO-2 period marks the first time the ESO has its own price control.

The launch event will run from 9am-3pm and feature Q&As and roundtable discussions, demonstrating how the ESO has listened to stakeholder feedback over the last two years, culminating in the development of the Business Plan, and also seeking stakeholder views on new parts of the business plan.

To sign up to attend the RIIO-2 Business Plan launch event, visit the registration page here.

If you have any questions or would like any further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team at: [email protected]