On 9th July, Ofgem published its draft determination, a key milestone in the RIIO-2 process. This can be accessed on Ofgem’s website here. We received an ‘on the day’ briefing from the Regulator. Following on from that, as an independent group, we felt it important to hold our own meeting to share views and reactions. We therefore met on 27 July when we discussed a first draft of our response.
We then met with the Company on 3 August and received a presentation from the Company on its perspective on the draft determination. We asked a number of questions including the Company’s view on Ofgem’s proposals related to customer service.
We are currently finalising our response, which has to be submitted to Ofgem by 4 September.
In term of next steps, on 16 October, Ofgem will hold an ‘open meeting’ in relation to NGN’s draft determination, to which we will make an input. The Final Determination will be published in the w/c 7 December.
In addition to discussing the Draft Determination at our meeting on 3 August, we also received a presentation detailing how the business is approaching its Whole Systems Programme.
We had our regular update on stakeholder engagement and an update on how the Company is dealing with Covid 19.
We concluded our meeting with a private discussion on our response to the Draft Determination, and a review of our effectiveness criteria.
We’ve recently recruited two new CEG members: Brian Matthews and Laura Brown. As accomplished and respected professionals within their own right, Brian has worked in the energy sector since 1997 and specialises in nuclear power, climate change communication, operational leadership and energy policy and strategy. Laura has 25 years’ experience as an engineer in the energy and manufacturing sector, with expertise in whole energy systems and renewable energy and design. Both have already brought their experience and understanding to our meetings in a highly effective way.