Scotland’s Local Electricity Network Coordination Group E…

A Scottish Government group established to resolve barriers preventing homes, businesses and public infrastructure from connecting to local electricity networks stopped meeting in August 2024 and was never replaced.

The Local Electricity Network Coordination Group was created in June 2023 as Scotland attempted to accelerate the installation of heat pumps, electric-vehicle chargers and other low-carbon technologies. Its remit extended beyond household equipment: the Government said electricity distribution networks would also need to accommodate new housing, industrial development and the wider electrification of transport and heat.

The group brought together the Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, COSLA, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scotland’s two principal distribution network operators, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and ScottishPower Energy Networks, along with housing, transport, community-energy and charging-sector representatives.

Its terms of reference described effective coordination as “imperative” because of the short period available to strengthen local networks before Scotland’s climate deadlines. It was expected to meet between four and six times a year, develop evidence for investment and maintain an issues log recording risks, agreed actions and progress towards solutions.

That work ended after a meeting on 22 August 2024.

Minutes from that meeting said the next session was scheduled for 21 November. However, an information request later established that the November meeting did not take place, no further meetings were held and no successor body was established. The Scottish Government confirmed that the August minutes were the group’s final recorded minutes.

Its meetings had recorded practical obstacles affecting housing, heating and transport projects throughout Scotland, including connection delays, uncertain completion dates, network-upgrade costs, incomplete infrastructure maps and difficulties coordinating investment between developers and regulated network companies.

At its first meeting, members were told that applications associated with some household heat-pump schemes had more than doubled while the time needed to facilitate each connection had tripled. Network operators reported increased demand for heat-pump and electric-vehicle connections, alongside difficulties recruiting enough staff to process applications efficiently.

Housing representatives later described grid constraints and delays obtaining estimated electrical loads as recurring problems for new developments. The group heard that reinforcement work could delay construction and that organisations lacked sufficiently detailed data to demonstrate the full extent of local constraints.

The problem was particularly pronounced in rural communities, where electricity infrastructure is often older and households are more likely to experience fuel poverty. The minutes recorded concern that evidence based on current connection applications would not necessarily show the level of demand expected as heating and transport became more dependent upon electricity.

Electric-vehicle charging operators raised a different set of obstacles. Legal rights, leases, highway permissions and outdated records of buried cables were said to add months to some installations. Participants reported cases in which cables were missing from the locations shown on network records or differed from the infrastructure described. A more consistent approach across distribution areas was proposed as a way of reducing delay.

By April 2024, the group was considering how local forecasts could inform the next electricity-network investment period. Distribution operators use future-energy scenarios to estimate demand from housing, heating, transport and industry and to justify investment to Ofgem. Members also discussed the forthcoming Regional Energy Strategic Plan system and the need to coordinate it with business planning for the 2028–33 distribution-network price-control period.

The final August meeting showed that the immediate difficulties had not disappeared. The Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings team reported that connection problems were blocking installations under Warmer Homes Scotland, the national fuel-poverty scheme. Unpredictable completion dates were affecting contractors, while delays placed additional strain on vulnerable households waiting for work to be completed.

Officials and SSEN agreed to continue discussing the matter at an operational level. The minutes do not explain why the wider coordination group then ceased meeting or what happened to its promised issues log.

There is now a broader system of regional energy planning being developed across Great Britain. The National Energy System Operator published a transitional Regional Energy Strategic Plan in January 2026 to inform distribution-network investment between 2028 and 2033. Full regional plans are expected to provide one integrated view of electricity, gas, heat networks and hydrogen, including a dedicated plan for Scotland.

Ofgem says the new system is intended to improve accountability and coordination by bringing regional stakeholders together around a common view of future energy needs. NESO has also established Scottish stakeholder forums as part of that work.

That programme may eventually perform some of the strategic functions considered by the former Scottish Government group. It is not, however, identified as its successor. The Local Electricity Network Coordination Group dealt with immediate, practical barriers encountered by housing providers, heating programmes, transport bodies, charging businesses and communities attempting to connect projects to the existing network. The full regional planning system is still being developed and is primarily intended to influence longer-term investment.

The Scottish Government’s own 2025 climate monitoring report said heat and transport subgroups had been formed and that the coordination group itself was under review after 18 months. It listed no implementation indicators or milestones against which its effectiveness could be measured.

The published record therefore leaves several matters unresolved.