SSE Enterprise gains IDNO licence from Ofgem

SSE Enterprise will now have the capacity to provide electricity infrastructure for embedded local networks across Great Britain after securing an Independent Distribution Network Operators (IDNO) licence from Ofgem.

The move is an important part of SSE Enterprise’s plan to offer a range of local and innovative energy solutions to customers and clients. The licence will be registered under a new holding called Forbury Assets Limited.

Neil Kirkby, Managing Director of SSE Enterprise, said: “This is a very important advance for SSE Enterprise as it gives us another innovative energy solution we can provide to our clients.

“Our aim is to use the licence to acquire private electric networks and bring an innovative approach to the market, competing in areas where DNOs and IDNOs don’t traditionally operate. This is another step forward for SSE Enterprise as we grow our presence in the distributed energy space.”

Ofgem regulates the amounts that IDNOs can charge their customers for using their networks via a ‘Relative Price Control’. This requires IDNO charges to be capped for all customers at a level broadly consistent with the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) equivalent charge.

There are currently 14 DNOs covering a larger separate area of Great Britain. An IDNO is regulated in the same way as a DNO, except the IDNO licence does not have all the conditions of the DNO licence:

• IDNOs develop, operate and maintain local electricity distribution networks and are directly connected to the DNO networks or indirectly to the DNO via another IDNO.
• A DNO is a company licensed to distribute electricity in Great Britain and it is one that usually owns and operates the system of cables and towers that bring electricity from the national transmission network to homes and businesses.