Government confirms minded-to position for Elexon to lead smart appliance governance
The Government has confirmed its minded-to position for Elexon to deliver enduring governance for the Smart and Secure Electricity Systems (SSES) programme.
The focus of the Government’s SSES programme includes ensuring that smart devices such as electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps and other low carbon appliances will work seamlessly with systems used by flexibility service providers to participate in local and national markets. The programme will also set minimum technical and regulatory requirements for energy smart appliances, to ensure digital security.
The SSES programme has an important part to play in supporting the Government’s Clean Power 2030 goal, as millions of new smart appliances will connect to the networks in the coming years. They will need to meet high standards of interoperability and cyber security as consumers seek to benefit from their smart devices being connected to the grid.
The Government’s ‘minded-to position’ is that:
- Elexon should deliver the SSES enduring governance functions through the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) given its role in developing flexibility markets, and expertise in overseeing technical codes of practice
- It will consult on this proposal later in 2025.
Elexon Chief Executive, Peter Stanley, said: “To achieve a smart energy system, we will need to ensure that consumers’ smart appliances can easily participate in flexibility markets, reducing their energy costs and providing valuable services to grid operators.
“The SSES programme will provide consumers and energy companies with the confidence that devices are secure, interoperable and able to contribute to grid stability. Elexon will also ensure that the activity of these devices can be accurately measured, once they are connected to networks, so that industry has trust in their performance in Settlement.”
Elexon has 25 years’ experience in managing rules and standards for the smooth operation of the wholesale market. Elexon will also deliver the market facilitator role for flexibility from late 2025, through which it will ensure that local and national flexibility markets are more co-ordinated, open and transparent.