Energy Act 2023: System Operation And Energy Code Governance

In the seventh in our series of briefings following the passing of the Energy Act 2023 (the Act) on 26 October 2023, our team at Norton Rose Fulbright look at the framework adopted under the Act to build an efficient, flexible, low carbon and low-cost electricity and gas systems and its potential implications.

System Operation

With the energy system becoming more complex, the government published its "Energy White Paper: Powering our net zero future" in December 2020, in which it pledged to ensure that the institutional arrangements governing the energy system are fit for purpose in the long term. The desire was to build on the reforms to the system operator instituted in April 2019 when the electricity system operator – National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO) – became a legally separate function within National Grid.