Discuss the future of energy in your local area

Strategic planning 6 Mar 2025 - 3 minute read

People stood in front of their field with their cows

This year, we are taking on a new role to develop Regional Energy Strategic Plans (RESPs) for England, Scotland, and Wales. These plans will help to ensure that local areas get the energy infrastructure they need to meet local net zero and growth ambitions.

As the National Energy System Operator (NESO) for Great Britain, we’re committed to ensuring the views of stakeholders are at the heart of our work to plan the future energy system.

So, if you have a keen interest in the energy system in your local area, with a particular focus on our new RESP role, join our online RESP forums.

Why attend a forum?

Enabling everyone’s voice to be heard is fundamental to delivering an energy system that Great Britain can be proud of. We want to listen to local communities, businesses and industry to hear your views on the energy system you need to ensure clean, secure and reliable energy for future generations.

By joining your local forum, you’ll:

Learn more about NESO and our RESP role
Meet our RESP team for your region/nation
Share the energy issues that are most important to your local area

Your feedback will shape our plans

As well as learning about the work to date and plans in your region, we also want to hear your feedback on two of our key priorities for 2025:

1) The methodology for how we’ll produce the RESPs, starting in 2026

2) The Transitional RESP (or tRESP) project, which is focused on supporting the development of the electricity distribution network operator (DNO) business plans for their next investment period, 2028-33, also known as RIIO-ED3.

By participating in a forum for your region or nation, you’ll play a key role in ensuring your area gets the electricity and gas distribution infrastructure it needs to grow and decarbonise.

How to sign-up

The forums will be run online, and the same content will be presented at each event, so you only need to attend the forum that is relevant to your local area. However, if you have interests in more than one region or nation, you’re welcome to join multiple sessions.

Here is a list of dates and times for the forums so you can get the dates added to your diaries in advance. Please note, registration for some of the events is now open, and links for the remaining events will be added to this article and circulated in further communications.

Date	Event title	Time	Where	Registration link (to follow)
20 March	RESP pre-forum webinar: ‘An introduction to RESP’	10:30am - 12:30pm	Online	Register
21 March	RESP forum - Scotland	11:00am -12:30pm	Online	Register
25 March	RESP forum - South West	3pm - 4:30pm	Online	Register
31 March	RESP forum - North East, Yorkshire & Humber	1pm - 2:30pm	Online	Register
1 April	RESP forum - East Midlands	2:30pm – 4pm	Online	Register
2 April	RESP forum - North West	10am - 11:30am	Online	Register
7 April	RESP forum - South East	10am - 11:30am	Online	Register
8 April	RESP forum - Wales	10:30am - 12:00pm	Online	Register
8 April	RESP forum - East of England	3pm - 4:30pm	Online	Register
9 April	RESP forum - West Midlands	10:30am – 12pm	Online	Register
10 April	RESP forum - England’s Economic Heartland	10am - 11:30am	Online	Register
11 April	RESP forum - Greater London	1:30pm - 3pm	Online	Register

A visual representation of the RESP’s 11 regions and nations:

The 11 regions and nations as defined by Ofgem

Pre-forum webinar

Before attending your local forum, join our webinar on 20 March to hear an introduction to NESO and our RESP role. With this background knowledge in advance, this will allow forum attendees to focus on shaping the tRESP project and the RESP methodology.