Assessment & Design (A&D) fees

We said we would We will continue to support and actively engage in the national debate on A&D fees and keep our customers informed of any developments.

We recognise that A&D fees continue to be an important issue for our customers and we have played a significant role in the ongoing national debate on the topic, launched by DECC’s call call for evidence on 24 March 2016. Our customers told us that we should continue to contribute to the debate and keep our customers informed of any significant developments and outcomes. 

In recognition of this and the national call for evidence, we included a commitment in our 2016/17 ICE work plan to continue to support the consultation; to encourage our stakeholders and customers to contribute and to implement any necessary changes to our policies and practices on conclusion of the debate.

Northern Powergrid has played and continues to play an active role in the national consultation on A&D fees, which is now being led by BEIS. We have continued to engage with and support BEIS on the issue, in the same way we supported DECC previously.

We have kept our stakeholders informed about our engagement with BEIS and the consultation on A&D fees throughout this period with updates at our Connections Customer Forums.

In January 2017, BEIS confirmed it would continue the work on A&D fees started by DECC. BEIS confirmed it would be issuing an industry-wide consultation on the draft regulations with a view to implementing these, subject to the necessary drafting and governmental approvals, by October 2017.

Whilst we have been able to deliver on the first part of our commitment to engage with DECC/BEIS and keep our customers informed, BEIS is yet to conclude its consultation or
consult on the draft regulations. As a result, we will not change any of our policies or practices until the BEIS consultation has concluded and the implementation of new regulations has been recommended.

We consider the discussion around A&D fees to be an important industry issue which, when resolved, will more properly allocate costs between applicants and, if the number of speculative applications reduces, would free up valuable resources that could be deployed elsewhere for the benefit of connections customers. Because of this, we have carried this action forward into our 2017/18 ICE work plan and are reaffirming our commitment to support BEIS’s work on A&D fees.