Ofgem Decision on NESO's Annual C9 Review Submission

UK Ofgem Publications & Decisions

Published March 13th, 2026

Detected March 13th, 2026

Summary

Ofgem has responded to the National Energy System Operator's (NESO) annual submission of revisions to its Electricity System Operator licence condition C9 statements. Ofgem has decided not to use its veto powers, allowing the proposed revisions to proceed.

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What changed

Ofgem has issued a decision regarding the National Energy System Operator's (NESO) annual review and proposed revisions to its Electricity System Operator licence condition C9 statements. These statements include the procurement guidelines statement, applicable balancing services volume data methodology statement, balancing principles statement, system management action flagging methodology statement, and balancing services adjustment data methodology statement. Ofgem has decided not to exercise its veto powers over these proposed changes, which were submitted by NESO on February 13, 2026, and considered alongside industry feedback from a consultation.

The revisions are expected to go live on April 1, 2026. Regulated entities, specifically those involved in electricity system operation and balancing services, should be aware of these upcoming changes to the C9 statements. While no specific compliance actions are mandated by this decision document itself, entities should ensure their internal processes and understanding align with the updated statements once they become effective on April 1, 2026.

What to do next

Review updated NESO C9 licence statements effective April 1, 2026
Ensure internal processes align with revised statements

Source document (simplified)

National Energy System Operator (NESO): annual C9 review

Publication type: Decision Publication date:

13 March 2026

Topic: National Energy System Operator (NESO), Electricity transmission Subtopic: Balancing supply and demand Print this page

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Our response to NESO's annual submission of revisions to the statements relating to condition C9 of its Electricity System Operator licence.

Details

As part of licence condition C9, NESO must review all statements under that condition once a year and suggest updates where needed. These condition C9 licence statements are the:

procurement guidelines statement (PGS)
applicable balancing services volume data methodology statement (ABSVD)
balancing principles statement (BPS)
system management action flagging methodology statement (SMAF)
balancing services adjustment data methodology statement (BSAD) NESO can also propose changes to these statements at other times. This letter explains our response to changes NESO proposed on 13 February 2026.

Outcome

We have decided not to use our powers of veto in relation to NESO’s submission.

In assessing the proposed revisions submitted by NESO, we considered the positions shared by industry respondents during the formal consultation conducted by NESO between 9 January and 6 February 2026, as well as NESO’s replies to this consultation feedback.

We expect NESO’s revisions to go live on 1 April 2026.