News & insights

CEPA is pleased to have supported the Utility Regulator (UR) over the last 24 months, with its seventh price control for Northern Ireland Electricity Networks (NIEN), culminating with the publication of UR’s Final Determination on 30 October. The CEPA team worked on various aspects of the price control, with a primary focus on efficiency analysis. The UR have published two reports prepared by CEPA, a Draft Determination Report and a Final Determination Report, which are available alongside their Final Determination documents.

The UR’s primary challenge for RP7 was to evaluate the scale of increased investment required to meet net zero targets, ensuring NIEN could handle the anticipated rise in electricity demand and infrastructure upgrades. CEPA’s reports helped UR to gain insights on historical operational efficiency by benchmarking NIEN’s operating costs for electricity distribution against those reported by GB electricity distribution companies.