Energy UK response to National Infrastructure Commission Consultation on The Electricity Distribution Network

Executive Summary

Energy UK welcomes the NIC review of Electricity Distribution, an area in serious need of
reform in order to enable effective whole system planning and to deliver a basis for the
establishment of Regional Energy System Planners (RESPs).
Energy UK would welcome the NIC focussing on:

• Ensuring the plans for distribution are sufficiently anticipatory and adaptable to local
  uncertainties at the distribution level.
• Potential standardisation of markets and connection processes across DNOs.
• Opportunities to remove barriers to better utilisation of flexibility, without disincentivising
  necessary network buildout.
• Improving the quality of and access to data at the distribution level.
• Clarity of the state of connections and issues behind delays to connections at distribution
  level, and actions needed to address this such as streamlining planning barriers,
  ensuring adequate organisational resourcing, and tightening DNO delivery obligations.

If you have any questions about this response or wish to engage with Energy UK and its
members, we would welcome further engagement.

Tobias Burke
Policy Manager
Tobias.burke@energy-uk.org.uk