For the rest of the year, energy networks have a lower profile. The nature of their work means they become the quieter, less well known part of the energy sector – but a part of the sector that nonetheless has a strong track record of reducing costs, investing in communities and improving the performance of the country’s 821,000km of electricity cables, and the 284,000km of gas pipes.
In the current political climate, there is a real danger that knowledge of the strength of their track record risks getting lost – just at the point in time when it needs to be heard about the most.
It is the changes that we’re seeing sweep through the energy sector that might have the biggest impact on this, as the role of the networks evolves in response to new smart technologies. As this role changes, so will the networks’ interaction with the public, increasing their profile. They will move from being there simply to deliver safe, reliable and affordable supplies of gas and electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ambitiously delivering a new Internet of Energy for the country, while expanding into new areas, delivering the infrastructure needed for the decarbonisation of transport, helping to move the nation as it goes about its day-to-day business.
Delivering an Internet of Energy, as part of a wider digital transformation, is perhaps the most fundamental change the networks are making. Operators are increasingly using smart energy services and data to regulate much less predictable patterns of electricity supply and demand, and to find new ways to manage sources of low carbon gas that did not exist before.
This means electricity networks are developing services based on smart technologies installed in homes and businesses, such as renewable energy generation, demand-side response and energy efficiency measures. ENA’s new Flexibility Commitment and the Open Networks Project enable distribution network operators to help kick-start the creation of new markets for these innovative services by allowing them to compete with traditional forms of energy network infrastructure, bringing them more into contact with customers – the people who provide them.
For gas distribution networks, this digitalisation enables networks to be much more active in the management of the energy content of different low carbon gasses, such as bio-methane, rather than just controlling the traditional flow and volume of our networks. This evolution allows for new local markets for gas produced in communities across the country.
The next change is that energy networks are already increasingly providing the basis of a future of transport without oil. For electricity network operators, this means not only ensuring that people’s homes and businesses get the charge-points they need connected as quickly and as efficiently as possible, it also means doing so in a way that keeps the costs of running the network as low as possible through a more flexible system, also limiting costs for customers. Gas networks too will be prominent as they expand into new areas, whether it be connecting hydrogen refuelling stations for heavier forms of transport, such as lorries and busses; delivering biomethane, hydrogen or compressed natural gas for road freight transport; or helping to deliver the infrastructure necessary for hydrogen-powered public transport.
Our energy networks start from a strong position in this changing world. Electricity networks have played a leading role in Britain’s renewable revolution, while still managing to reduce costs and improve system reliability. Over 90 bio-methane plants have been connected to gas distribution networks. And according to annual, independently commissioned research by Ofgem, both gas and electricity networks enjoy high levels of customer satisfaction, running at 88 per cent for both.
As we head into this new era, the networks are working to deliver a smarter, more efficient energy system for the public at the lowest possible cost. This exciting period is also an opportunity for the UK’s energy networks to stand up and demonstrate the critical role they play in delivering vital public services to their customers, not just in winter but beyond.