Governance

Energy Geeks Publications

The Energy Geeks’ year in review
ByRoger Hey 1 December 2025

The article argues that one year of relentless advocacy has delivered tangible policy and regulatory progress on losses, looped services, methane leakage and voltage, with the Energy Geeks calculating savings of up to eight per cent on customer bills. It matters because the structural gaps remain, particularly on roles and responsibilities and on the absence of a system architect, and the second year will focus on the harder, geekier architectural questions that decision makers need to confront.

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Energy Geeks Publications

Order from Chaos: An Energy Geeks’ manifesto for a digital future
ByRoger Hey 15 November 2025

The article argues that the UK is building the hardware of a clean power system without designing the software, and that a time-limited Modernisation and Digitalisation Unit is needed to deliver a Sector Digitalisation Plan, a Digital Spine and architectural governance across the fragmented programmes already under way. It matters because Clean Power 2030 cannot be delivered without coordinated digital infrastructure, and the current trajectory risks a Digital Wild West of incompatible devices, blind system operation and stranded investment.

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Energy Geeks Publications

Does the Flexibility Roadmap stack up?
ByRoger Hey 1 October 2025

The article argues that the Clean Flexibility Roadmap is a thorough document with real strengths on voltage, storage heaters and digitalisation, but is undermined by circular governance between DESNZ, Ofgem and NESO and by significant gaps on energy efficiency, distribution networks and fairness. It matters because flexibility is repeatedly named as the biggest challenge in meeting Clean Power 2030, and a plan that overstates universal benefits without acknowledging trade-offs risks failing on delivery and on equity.

Read More Does the Flexibility Roadmap stack up?
Energy Geeks Publications

Delivering Clean Power 2030: Architects and integrators
ByRoger Hey 1 July 2025

The article argues that the system architect and system integrator are related but distinct roles, with NESO acting as system architect for GB energy and Clean Power 2030 needing a named system integrator with the resources and authority to deliver. It matters because flexibility, digitalisation, networks and people are all system integration challenges rather than portfolios of projects, and assigning the role by accident rather than design risks higher costs, missed synergies and a system that does not deliver the outcomes promised.

Read More Delivering Clean Power 2030: Architects and integrators
Energy Geeks Publications

Clean Power 2030: Does anyone know who is doing what?
ByRoger Hey 1 June 2025

The article argues that the proliferation of new governing bodies sitting alongside existing authorities has created overlapping and underlapping responsibilities across policy, customer ownership, regional roles and digital coordination, leaving nobody clearly accountable when delivery slips. It matters because Clean Power 2030 cannot be reached without clarity on who decides what and where blame lies, and the answer is not reorganisation but a deliberate exercise in defining where existing organisations’ roles start and stop against clear timeframes and deliverables.

Read More Clean Power 2030: Does anyone know who is doing what?
Energy Geeks Publications

NIC review does not address key DNO trade-offs
ByRoger Hey 15 March 2025

The article argues that the National Infrastructure Commission’s review of electricity distribution rightly puts DNOs centre stage but stops short of saying how RIIO should be reformed, how flexibility should sit alongside anticipatory investment or how Regional Energy Strategic Plans should bite on networks. It matters because DNOs are the delivery layer for Clean Power 2030 and the questions the NIC leaves open are precisely the ones Ofgem and government need to answer in ED3 if distribution is to keep pace with transmission and generation.

Read More NIC review does not address key DNO trade-offs
Energy Geeks Publications

Delivering Clean Power 2030: From silos to systems integration
ByRoger Hey 1 March 2025

The article argues that Clean Power 2030 needs system integration by design rather than by accident, with a named system integrator empowered to coordinate flexibility, networks, digitalisation, people and supply chains across the programme. It matters because letting integration happen reactively in isolation from broader considerations will lead to inefficiencies, higher costs, missed synergies and a system that fails to operate as expected, and the urgency of the 2030 deadline leaves no room for that drift.

Read More Delivering Clean Power 2030: From silos to systems integration
Energy Geeks Publications

What needs to be achieved in 2025 to reach clean power by 2030?
ByRoger Hey 10 January 2025

The article argues that 2025 is the year in which Clean Power 2030 either acquires real delivery momentum or quietly slips, and sets out twelve resolutions across customer engagement, system integration, digitalisation, skills and tariff reform. It matters because each resolution is targeted at a specific decision maker, from Mission Control to Ofgem to the Department for Education, and progress against them will be the practical test of whether the policy framework is now organised for delivery.

Read More What needs to be achieved in 2025 to reach clean power by 2030?