Report on the Business Plan of Scottish Power Energy Networks for the RIIO-ED 2 Price Control

The Gas and Electricity Regulator, Ofgem, regulates the companies that own, maintain and operate the wires and other equipment that distribute electricity to our homes and businesses and Ofgem decides how much these Distribution Network Operators (DNO) can charge through regular ‘Price Controls’. These ‘Distribution Network’ charges are incorporated into the regular bills we receive from our electricity supplier. Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) is the DNO for Southern Scotland, North Wales and a large part of North West England around Merseyside and Cheshire and it has now produced its Business Plan for the next ED2 (Electricity Distribution 2) Price Control running from 2023 to 2028. The purpose of the Customer Engagement Group (CEG) is “to provide independent challenge to SPEN and views to Ofgem on whether SPEN’s Business Plan addresses the needs and preferences of it’s customers and other stakeholders”. Overall, the CEG believes that SPEN has produced a Final Business Plan that reflects the needs and preferences of consumers and other stakeholders as drawn from its re-search and addresses the expected challenges of net zero and vulnerable consumers. Moreover, SPEN’s plan has evolved to take account of both the feedback from engagement and challenges from the CEG and in our opinion meets and in many areas exceeds Ofgem’s baseline expectations.