UK grid connections reform mishandled, regulator finds

Reform of Great Britain’s connections queue failed on multiple counts, according to the latest regulator assessment of grid operator NESO’s performance. The assessment confirms issues UK developers have been highlighting throughout the process.  

NESO has been engaged in reform to change Great Britain’s grid connection queue from a first come, first served methodology to a first ready, first served approach that takes consideration of system needs.

The grid operator was successful in significantly reducing an oversubscribed queue, including clearing 153 GW of battery energy storage system capacity. However, developers have been sounding alarm bells over the challenges the process presented, previously telling pv magazine that data issues have meant more work, while a lack of transparency made decision making hard.

In an interview in the September issue of pv magazine Global, Solar Energy UK chief executive Chris Hewett commented: “On the one hand, we’ve had connection reform and lots of people have offers. Lots of those offers are way higher than they were expecting, and some of them are wrong, and some are millions of pounds in excess of what they were suggested.”

Ofgem has now confirmed much of what developers said in its latest assessment of NESO’s performance. The regulator’s report examining NESO’s performance during the period 2025 to 2026 found the grid operator had failed to implement connections reform on time, had missed deadlines, and had distributed inaccurate connection offers during the process.

Engagement with developers was also described as poor, and issues with digitalization including the rollout of an online connections portal – which Ofgem described as critical for delivery – experiencing multiple technical and usability challenges that “could have been mitigated at the time.”

Connections reform was just one element of the grid operator’s performance under assessment. Overall, Ofgem found that NESO had delivered a “good performance” against the majority of its objectives, meeting or exceeding expectations in seven of the eight performance obligations set by the regulator. However, Ofgem described connections reform as a “critical” performance objective.

In response to the findings, Zoe Morrisey, director of legal and regulation at NESO, noted that Ofgem’s overall conclusion was that “NESO met expectations.” In a blog post on the grid operator’s website, Morrisey noted the assessment covered the NESO’s first full financial year. NESO was formed in October 2024 when the British government acquired the electricity system operator from National Grid plc.

The legal director acknowledged that the section on connections reform “made for difficult reading.”

“The transformation of the grid connections process has not been easy and we accept that, though it is a shared endeavor across government, Ofgem the networks and NESO, the journey has been harder than it should have been.

“We also recognize Ofgem’s feedback that we must find a clearer way of demonstrating value for money, particularly at a time where energy costs are high. We have not waited for this feedback to act – we are already taking steps to strengthen performance in both areas.” Morrisey said.