Strategic energy planning and connections reform in 2026: putting plans into action

Connections reforms and strategic energy planning are both crucial for achieving Clean Power 2030 and wider decarbonisation, and 2026 is an important year of development for both.

Decarbonising will mean that there will be more demand for electricity. Transport will continue to electrify, heating will move away from gas, and industry will further reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. Meeting this demand through renewables will require a grid and system fit for the 21st Century.

As the ongoing situation in the Middle East highlights our energy market's exposure to wholesale gas prices, the need to deliver connections reforms and strategically plan a flexible, resilient grid that can support clean power is clear. These reforms will mean consumers can benefit from lower prices and be better protected from the volatility and price shocks of the global gas market.

Connections queue reform

NESO published a new timeline for connections reform in mid-February. While delays are frustrating, actual offers are more important than timelines. The good news is that offers are now being made, and NESO and network companies are providing regular public data so people can see evidence of real progress.

Because this is such a big change, we will need to adjust the process as we learn more. We now know from NESO’s data that many more battery projects will receive connections offers relative to what Clean Power 2030 actually needs. We are assessing the impacts of this relative oversupply, and may need to take action to ensure the queue consists of projects that the system really needs.

We also now understand that many projects that were meant to be protected (with 2026 and 2027 connections dates) will not receive their original dates. These protections were intended to help keep near-term delivery on track. We are looking closely at the causes before we decide what to do next. We do however still expect enough offers to be made overall to meet Clean Power 2030.

Wider connections reforms

We think of improving the connections process in two parts. We need to:

• reform the process and the queue so it focuses on viable and needed projects (“connections reform”)
• improve the rules and data so the overall process is higher quality and more ambitious (“the end to end review”)

We had numerous responses to our second end-to-end review consultation, which seeks to improve standards of service for connecting customers within the new process. Early indications suggest stakeholders broadly support our policy positions across all seven themes. We’re using the Connections Delivery Board to hold ourselves and others to account against actions we’ve committed to. We have commenced workshops with stakeholders to flesh out our policy positions and expect to respond with next steps later this year, including making quick wins where we can.

But now there’s a third challenge: demand connections. There’s been a surge in applications, so we need a process that removes speculation and connects the projects the economy needs faster. We ran a demand connections reform call for input, with over 100 responses to proposals such as a levy on data centres to ensure we focus on viable projects, plus near-term regulatory clarifications to speed up connections. We expect this to be a multi-stage programme, with changes made in 2026. In parallel, we are supporting the government’s proposals to better plan and prioritise the demand connections of most importance.

Strategic Planning

In January, NESO published Great Britain's transitional Regional Energy Strategic Plan (RESP), focused on electricity. This is a direction-setting plan for Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) as they prepare for the next electricity distribution price control,  ED3. Published at a similar time as the government’s Warm Homes Plan, it shows the benefits and trade-offs of how strategic planning can give clearer direction while still allowing flexibility for investment decisions.

The full RESP is expected in 2028. We have published the new RESP licence obligations for NESO to produce it, and for network companies to fully participate in the process.

We also published our regulatory approval decision for the NESO’s Centralised Strategic Network Plan (CSNP) Methodology, along with an update on timings. These plans will set out the network build needs up to 2050 to move power, gas and hydrogen around Great Britain. The final plans are due by the end of 2028, and the next Transitional-CSNP is due to be published by NESO in June 2026.

What we are doing next

Starting with connections, the priorities are firstly getting offers out as part of connections reform, and secondly continuing to consider whether action is needed to encourage oversupplied battery projects to exit early. On the end-to-end review, we will set out steps for implementation later this year, including consulting on licence changes to enact new policy. Finally, on demand connections, we plan to consult in early summer on changes to reduce data centre speculation and measures to enable greater self-build.

On strategic planning, together with Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, we will make a late-summer 2026 decision on NESO’s enduring RESP methodology. Moving to Strategic Spatial Energy Planning (SSEP), we expect government to lay out the next steps of its Reformed National Pricing work soon. This has clear, direct links with strategic planning and connections, so we’ll align Ofgem work programmes and explain in due course how everything fits together.