Industry News

Ofgem mulls reforms to grid access arrangements

Regulator says changes are needed to enable new technologies to connect to networks swiftly

Ofgem has outlined a number of potential changes to network access arrangements and forward-looking charges for system usage.

The regulator says the reforms are necessary to reduce costs and enable new technologies to connect promptly to the power grid.

In a working paper, Ofgem said the current arrangements for network access pay little attention to the nature of the rights being granted.

“This means that there is no, or a poorly defined, choice of different access options available to fit users’ needs, and they provide only limited information to help identify where new network capacity is needed,” the paper states.

“The allocation of access is generally on a first come first served basis, with rights not readily tradeable or transferable. As a result, some users may be disadvantaged in seeking to get access to the system and capacity may not be being used efficiently.”

Go Back