How we’re delivering our role in Connections Reform
A message from John Twomey, Director of Customer and Network Development
With the National Energy System Operator (NESO) having now published its updated timeline for Connections Reform, we’re entering a pivotal stage of the implementation phase, one that brings greater involvement from Transmission Owners like National Grid Electricity Transmission (NGET). As such, I wanted to outline how NGET is preparing for this nationally significant effort.
Led by NESO, Connections Reform is a cornerstone of the UK’s energy future. At NGET, we are getting ready to undertake the significant volumes of work needed to support the restudy and reissue of offers – ready for when we receive the revised connections queue from NESO. These offers will then be returned to NESO, who will issue updated contracts to customers. This activity is essential not only for progressing individual projects, but also for enabling the delivery of the Government’s Clean Power 2030 targets.
We recognise that this is a time of uncertainty, with many customers eagerly awaiting both updates and tangible outputs from the process. That’s why we want to be transparent and proactive in how we communicate the work we’re doing. Through future updates, we’ll continue to share key milestones and progress, while your dedicated NGET Relationship Manager remains available to support you. Our aim is to ensure you feel informed, supported, and confident in the steps ahead.
How we’re setting up to deliver
To ensure we are ready, we have established an NGET Connections Reform Programme Steering Committee, chaired by myself. The committee brings together senior leaders across NGET to drive progress, make timely decisions, and provide strategic direction.
We’re working in close partnership with our distribution network colleagues across England and Wales. Many customers connecting at distribution level depend on NGET works to enable their projects, making collaboration essential. We have held a series of workshops – 28 completed to-date – with distribution network partners to align on data requirements and expected engineering works, and we will continue to engage actively throughout the Connections Reform journey to ensure alignment and transparency.
We have established regional engineering workshops focussed on substation solutions for the anticipated contracted queue, bringing together Power System Engineers, Connection Engineers and other key stakeholders. This approach will refine processes, manage resources, and further develop our digital dashboards – providing insights to shape engineering and commercial strategies for effective Reform delivery over the coming critical months.
Keeping you informed
We know how important it is for you to stay informed and supported as your project(s) progress. Your Relationship Manager will keep you updated every step of the way. Here’s how we’ll engage:
- Once we’ve completed all deliverability assessments and network planning, and submitted our offers to NESO, we are committed to providing you with updates to help you understand what to expect next.
- If reordering of the queue has meant that there are changes to works or milestone dates, we will offer engineering support to explain the changes and discuss them with you as early as possible.
- For customers with multiple projects, we aim to provide updates that offer a portfolio-wide perspective.
- We will maintain regular contact with distribution networks and share updates at key milestones to ensure transparency.
In the meantime, we suggest keeping up to date with the progress of Reform via NESO’s dedicated web page: Connections Reform | National Energy System Operator
We are committed to delivering our role in Connections Reform with clarity, urgency, and a strong focus on customer outcomes. Thank you for your continued partnership.
Warm regards,
John Twomey
Director of Customer and Network Development
