On 26 November 2025, the Department for the Economy (DfE) published a “Decision on Fairer Grid Connection Costs”.
The policy decision relates to the increased socialisation of connection reinforcement costs of electricity distribution network. This results in the shifting of responsibility for covering the costs of reinforcing the network from the individual connecting customer to the wider NI customer base.
The Department consulted in January 2025 on increasing the degree of socialisation of cost for network reinforcement costs for connections to the electricity distribution network.
Four options were put forward, namely:
- Option 1: Status quo – remaining with the current connection policy.
- Option 2: Partial socialisation.
- Option 3: Full socialisation for homes and businesses, partial socialisation for generators.
- Option 4: Full socialisation.
The Department has decided to adopt Option 4 as its policy on the issue.
This means that homes, businesses and generators only pay for their own assets from the point of connection to their connection point. Any distribution network reinforcement cost is socialised.
The Department has also decided that the socialisation of reinforcement costs for connections to the electricity distribution network should be subject to a High-Cost Cap.
The initial values for the High-Cost Cap are proposed as:
- for demand connections: £1,000/kVA; and
- for generation connections: £200/kW.
The Department has advised the Utility Regulator of this change in policy, asking us to implement the policy as quickly as possible.
The Utility Regulator has begun working through the necessary steps, alongside NIE Networks, to implement the Minister’s decision.