Grid Unlock 2 - Return Of The Consultation

The Department for the Environment and Climate Change (DECC) has issued a second consultation on improvements to the electricity grid, following on from a first round of consultation in August-November 2009 (see our e-update of 29/10/09). After taking into consideration responses to that first consultation, the DECC are now consulting on the detail of their selected preferred model and its implementation.

The selected preferred model is the Connect and Manage (Socialised) model. The Socialised model fully socialises any additional constraint costs. Under these arrangements costs will be shared between all users of the network and will ultimately be borne by consumers.

This model appears to have been chosen because it is consistent with the current treatment of constraint costs, an already well understood model which the DECC thinks will enable the greatest investment in electricity generation. The DECC has subjected the model to economic analysis, which has shown