We asked, you said, we did

Below are outcomes for some of the issues we've recently asked about.

We asked

We asked for views about our draft guidance for the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to produce future energy pathways. Our main questions were whether the guidance accurately reflected the decisions we had made on the changes to this work.

We were looking for responses from people and organisations who are currently using or will be using the Future Energy Pathways.

You said

We received responses from:

  • Energy & Utilities Alliance (EUA)
  • Northern Gas Network
  • Octopus Energy Group
  • Intergen
  • UKPN
  • Energy UK
  • Cadent Gas
  • The Crown Estate
  • ENWL
  • Hydrogen UK
  • SSE
  • ESO
  • EDF Energy
  • WW Utilities
  • ESB Generation and Trading
  • National Gas Transmission (NGT)
  • Northern Powergrid
  • SGN
  • SP Energy Networks (SPEN)
  • RWE

The majority of responses agreed that we had accurately reflected our decision in the guidance. Most responses asked for more clarity in certain areas, particularly around:

  • how the pathways will interact with the other NESO planning roles
  • whether regional pathways were still needed in this process
  • how distribution level, and gas data, will be incorporated in the future

Where we were given permission, we’ve published the responses we received.

We did

We have decided to amend the guidance in line with positions laid out in the responses,  mainly a number of minor changes to add clarity. We have made three more substantial changes to:

  • drop the requirement for the Future Energy Pathways to produce regional pathways, which will now be done as part of the regional planning work that NESO is undertaking
  • require that NESO explain in its Future Energy Pathways publication exactly how the future energy pathways work interacts with its other planning responsibilities
  • require NESO to explore with stakeholders how, and over what timescale, this work can include more distribution level and gas network information

See our decision document (PDF, 181.9 KB) and tracked changes (PDF, 197.7 KB) for more details on what we have changed in the final guidance, and why.

Read our notice of direction for the Future Energy Pathways guidance (PDF, 86.1 KB).

View the latest version of the Future Energy Pathways guidance on the Ofgem website.