ESO completes separation from National Grid

The Electricity System Operator has this week completed operational separation from National Grid ahead of its transition to the National Energy System Operator (NESO).

Kayte O’Neill, the organisation’s chief operating officer, told Utility Week Live this was a “huge milestone on a very complex journey”.

It means that 500 people providing shared support services between National Grid and ESO have officially moved across. These include finance, procurement and a large technology team.

It completes a transition that started in 2019 with the legal separation of the ESO from the parent group. It leaves the financial transaction between government and National Grid as the final link to break.

O’Neill said she could not yet put a precise date on the official transition to NESO but said she was “very hopeful we’re going to deliver the NESO this summer”.

Also speaking at the show was Teresa Camey, deputy director, energy system governance, at the department for energy security and net zero, who has led on the NESO project for government. Speaking before the announcement of a July election, she refused to be drawn even on this vague timeline, saying: “We have committed to establishing as soon as we can this year.

“We are pushing through all of the workstreams, including the financial transaction. I don’t want to put a month on it at this point but we want to do this as soon as we possibly can.”

O’Neill and Camey both spoke about the priorities for the first 100 days of the NESO, with some significant groundwork set to be laid over the coming weeks/ months.

Government is expected to imminently confirm NESO’s role in developing a strategic spatial energy plan after which a methodology will be presented for consultation. Meanwhile, Ofgem is expected to hand over the regional strategic energy planner role to NESO for delivery this summer.

O’Neill said NESO would also deliver its first gas reports before the end of the year.

She said: “The other thing is our advisory role. Government and Ofgem can ask us to opine on particularly important questions for industry and our expectation is that those questions will come through pretty quickly after day one.

“When we say we’ve done the leg work for those 100 days, I mean we’ve really done the leg work and it should be a seamless transition.”

Camey added: “We absolutely want to make sure it’s as smooth a transition as possible for ESO’s current roles. They are absolutely vital and you shouldn’t be able to spot the difference.

“The pipeline of advisory requests is developing and we are now working with ESO colleagues to make sure we get the benefit from ESO on day one without sending a very long shopping list.”