The Independent Stakeholder Group met online on 1 June for one of our first full meetings since the start of RIIO-GD3.
The focus of the meeting was now very much on delivery. During RIIO-GD2 and the business planning process, much of our work was about testing NGN’s plans for 2026 to 2031. We are now starting to look at how those plans will be delivered, monitored and challenged in practice.
NGN provided an update on early GD3 performance, customer service, vulnerability support, regulation and the CMA appeal. Operational performance remains strong, including emergency response and early performance against the new seven and 28-day repair requirements. We also discussed NGN’s refreshed customer strategy and asked for a fuller session once the work has developed further.
A key area for the ISG will be how NGN reports progress through GD3. We discussed an early version of the proposed output dashboard and challenged NGN to make sure it shows more than spend, compliance and RAG status. We want to see trends, customer impact, risk, corrective action and clear ownership. We also want regular visibility of vulnerability and carbon monoxide outcomes through VCMI.
The group also discussed Navigator, NGN’s whole-system modelling tool. This could be useful in testing future energy pathways, local planning and customer cost impacts, but members asked for a more focused deep dive before drawing conclusions from the model.
Digitalisation and AI, NGN updated us on the Open Data Portal, Ofgem’s new open data consultation, Copilot, Agentic AI and its Artificial Intelligence Impact Assessment. We welcomed the governance work but asked for more detail on environmental impacts, staff training, people impacts and how AI pilots are controlled across the business.
The final session covered Totex and operational costs. This included Repex delivery, labour market pressures, council lane rental, open-cut work, productivity and declining connections. These issues will become increasingly important in GD3, particularly where they affect customer disruption, future costs and fairness between current and future customers.
We agreed that the next phase of ISG work should use more focused deep dives and shorter topic sessions. This will help us test complex areas properly and provide evidence for our ongoing scrutiny of NGN’s delivery in GD3. We are also in the process of bringing 2 new members into the team.
Since the last ISG meeting, members have also:
• visited Northumbrian Water’s Howdon Biomethane Plant with NGN colleagues to see how biomethane is produced, checked and injected into the gas network
• observed a Young Innovators Council session on NGN’s education and awareness strategy
• attended the annual VCMA / VCMI strategy session, looking back at GD2 delivery and forward to GD3 priorities
• held deep-dive discussions on workforce resilience and supplier resilience
• reviewed supply chain resilience questions and follow-up evidence from NGN
• attended the Yorkshire Investing in People and Infrastructure Summit, including discussion on utility coordination and reducing customer disruption
Brian Matthews
ISG Chair