Advancement fees

Update 10 June 2025:

Confirmed fee structure for customers requesting advancement or with a ‘transitional’ connection agreement within the Gate 2 to Whole Queue process.

NESO has announced a confirmed fee structure for customers within the Gate 2 to Whole Queue process that hold a transitional agreement or are requesting advancement. This fee structure is slightly different to our minded to position published on 20 May 2025, and it has now been approved by Ofgem.

The need for this is because a fee is envisioned for these applications within the recently approved CMP435 connection reform code modification.

The confirmed position for projects requesting advancement is a fixed fee of £13,600* in NGETs region, £6,200* in SPTs region and £5,600* in SHETs region (per modification application). This means that: 

  • Transmission connected projects, large Bilateral Embedded Generation Agreements (BEGAs) and Bilateral Embedded Licence Exemptible Large Power Station Agreements (BELLAs) that request advancement will be invoiced a fixed fee of £13,600 in NGETs region, £6,200 in SPTs region and £5,600 in SHETs region (depending on the region).
  • DNO modification applications related to small and medium power stations that request advancement through their host DNO are expected to be ‘batched’ by Grid Supply Point / Bulk Supply Point. Host DNOs will be invoiced a fixed fee of £13,600 in NGETs region, £6,200 in SPTs region and £5,600 in SHETs region. This will be charged per modification application related to each relevant Grid Supply Point / Bulk Supply Point.

The position for projects with a ‘transitional’ connection agreement is that there will be no change to the current modification application fee. This means that the modification application fee remains as outlined in the current charging statement and customers can choose between fixed or variable.

A project will not be charged a fee if it is not requesting advancement and if it does not have a ‘transitional’ connection agreement.

The above fees will be charged only to the projects that pass initial readiness checks and are strategically aligned, including where it has passed an initial network review that advancement may be possible. The timing of the invoice will be after it is identified that the project is strategically aligned. This means customers will not be invoiced immediately upon application / submission of the Readiness Declaration.

Further information regarding how the fee will be passed from the DNOs on to small and medium generators will be provided by DNOs at the earliest opportunity.

The fixed fee is non-refundable. This includes (but is not limited to) the following scenarios:

  • A project passes initial readiness checks, is strategically aligned and is invoiced, but subsequently fails detailed readiness checks or duplication checks,
  • A project requests advancement, but having gone through the process, cannot be offered it.

Fixed fees for Transitional projects:

An additional, separate update is that directly-connected customers who opted for a fixed fee for their Transitional offer application historically will now be reconciled as if they were on a variable fee. They will be reconciled to £4k, which is the cost of producing the Transitional offer (see also our letter to Ofgem). The fixed fee would be significantly higher than £4k. This change is to ensure these customers are not unfairly disadvantaged if they inadvertently selected a fixed fee when the fee was to be reconciled to £4k.

*Note that all application fees are subject to VAT. The fees quoted here do not include VAT.