Kyle Murchie, Nikki Pillinger, and Rachael Eynon return for Part 2 of GNV18, covering Ofgem's end-to-end review progress and the rapidly evolving demand connections landscape. 

Recorded: 07 April 2026 

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In Part 1 of Grid News and Views 18, Connectologists® Kyle Murchie, Nikki Pillinger, and Rachael Eynon cover the latest Gate 2 offer progress, the methodology consultation's most pressing areas, and emerging repowering challenges.  

Since recording, the NESO has published updated figures confirming 88% of Gate 2 protected offers have now been issued, with fewer than ten TOCOs outstanding per Transmission Owner. NESO has also issued more than 1,000 Gate 1 offers. Transmission offers remain on track for mid-April and distribution offers for mid-May. A cross-industry dashboard led by the ENA will shortly provide a consistent view of progress across transmission and distribution. 

Recorded: 07 April 2026 

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Pete Aston is joined by John Twomey, Director of Customer and Network Development at National Grid Electricity Transmission, to explore where Connection Reform stands and what developers can expect as the engineering phase gets underway. 

Recorded: 26 March 2026 

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Connectologist® Pete Aston is joined by colleagues Alex Ikonic and Catherine Cleary to discuss Ofgem's Call for Input on demand connections reform — focusing on the legal ambiguity preventing demand customers from owning high-voltage transmission assets. 

Key discussion points: 

Recorded: 04 March 2026 

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Connectologists® Catherine Cleary and Kyle Murchie are joined by Rachael Eynon in her first episode as a Connectologist®, covering the key grid connection developments of February 2026. 

The headline topic is Ofgem's call for input on Demand Reform, closing 13 March. The combined transmission and distribution demand queue reached around 42GW in summer 2024 before rising to roughly 125GW, prompting a pause on new transmission applications. Ofgem's response introduces three pillars: 

Roadnight Taylor is drafting a proposal for a potential change to licence exemptions under the Electricity Act on asset ownership and will publish insights ahead of the 13 March call for input deadline. 

The episode also covers: 

Recorded 03 March 2026

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Connectologists® Nikki Pillinger, Alex Ikonic, and Philip Bale examine the latest Connections Reform delays and the practical challenges developers face navigating milestones, technical limits uncertainty, and escalating project delivery costs.

Since recording, NESO published further revised timelines: Protected 2026/27 transmission offers now expected between 13 February and mid-April 2026, protected distribution between early March and end May 2026, with Phase 1 offers extending through mid-November 2026—months beyond the "few weeks" initially anticipated.

Key discussions:

Recorded 04 February 2026

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Connectologists® Nikki Pillinger, Alex Ikonic, and Philip Bale examine the latest Connections Reform delays and the practical challenges developers face navigating milestones, technical limits uncertainty, and escalating project delivery costs.

Since recording, NESO published further revised timelines: Protected 2026/27 transmission offers now expected between 13 February and mid-April 2026, protected distribution between early March and end May 2026, with Phase 1 offers extending through mid-November 2026—months beyond the "few weeks" initially anticipated.

Key discussions:

Recorded 04 February 2026

Our links:

Connectologists® Kyle Murchie, Nikki Pillinger, and Philip Bale explore two modifications addressing network boundary charges—a barrier that has stifled countless projects. With both at consultation stage, developers and demand customers can shape how costs are allocated.

DCP461 has five options remaining after removing voltage-based rules. Approaches range from socialising costs through DUoS (Options 1.1/1.2), to Connection Asset Funding with or without capacity thresholds (Options 2.1/2.2), to clearer guidance on current practice (Option 3.1).

CMP460 initially considered three options before the proposer defined the proposal. The Original Proposal treats any shareable transmission asset at the network boundary as infrastructure, passing associated costs onto Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charges. There is still time for alternatives to be raised with the consultation responses key, informing Working Group Members and triggering action.

The conversation explores how different options balance developer certainty, customer impact, and fairness—with particular focus on how identical projects face vastly different costs depending on substation classification, and how to prevent smaller customers being exposed to prohibitive SGT charges.

CMP460 consultation closes 18 February 2026; DCP461 opens second week of February for three weeks. The Connectologists® encourage responses—either directly or through trade bodies.

Read more:

DCP461: https://statics.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/2/atp-safelinks.html

CMP460: https://www.neso.energy/industry-information/codes/cusc/modifications/cmp460-improving-transmission-connection-asset-charging

Recorded 04 February 2026

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Connectologists® Pete Aston, Kyle Murchie, and Alex Ikonic explore the mounting pressures developers face as Gate 2 offers arrive. Transmission offers have three months to accept but queries must be submitted within four weeks. Distribution offers are expected to have about four weeks, though this may vary between DNOs. Securities are due approximately 30 days after acceptance.

The key challenges developers are facing:

Critical next step: Don't put accepted offers "on the shelf"—immediately engage to confirm design progression, payment requirements, and where projects sit in TO gating windows.

We understand the complexity of grid connection challenges, and the Connectologists® hope these insights help developers navigate Gate 2 with greater clarity.

Recorded: 12 November 2025

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Welcome back to Part 2, where Connectologists® Catherine Cleary and Kyle Murchie continue their conversation with Graham Pannell from BayWa r.e, examining GB's constraint management crisis.

Graham explains how GB currently relies almost entirely on the Balancing Mechanism for constraints—leaving nothing to long-term planning or day-ahead signals. Using a golf analogy, he argues effective market design needs different tools for different timeframes:

Currently, GB is "in a bunker using only a putter."

The constraint cost reality: £3 billion in annual costs on the Scotland-England boundary could be addressed by infrastructure costing £0.27 billion annualised. Every pound invested in major grid delivery saves ten.

Graham highlights the political challenge: major infrastructure won't arrive until after the next election. The industry needs demonstrable shorter-term constraint reduction to maintain momentum toward clean power goals.

Listen to Part 1 here: https://roadnighttaylor.co.uk/connectology/podcasts/podcast-connection-uncertainty-graham-pannell-1/

Date Recorded 28th November 2025

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