Bringing Connections to the Digital Age

James was really excited to be building a new “zero carbon” house on his land. He had just received the planning permission and was ready to go with the equipment and prices, but then his builder asked him, “Have you got a price for an electricity connection?”

James hadn’t, so he went online, found his network operator, and clicked through their connections page. He was able to put in what he wanted to do, show the exact position of the property, and the space he’d planned for the electricity meter. Instantly, online he could see the route the cable into his property would take and he got a price for the connection. Satisfied with the price, James clicked through, checked the available dates, paid the deposit and booked in to have the connection made eight weeks later.

This may sound like a fairytale but is the experience electricity customers in UK can get today through self-service connections.

Why are electricity networks embracing this digital self-service approach?

In UK, the distribution network service providers (DNSPs) are seeing increasing volumes of connection requests, around five fold over the current regulatory period, which they are required to respond to at no charge to the requestor. Significant portions (up to 80% in some cases) of these requests are caused by people “optioneering” to find the locations with available capacity to install electric vehicle (EV) chargers, batteries or distributed energy resources (DER) integration services. This causes a problem. The network operators need to hire and train more people to respond to these enquiries, or to change their approach.

Speaking to several DNSPs, a typical LV acceptable quote following the traditional approach takes two to three and a half hours to put together. By changing to a self-service approach, this can be reduced to 15 minutes or removed altogether. One DNSP reported £8.8m (AUD$16.6 million) net present value of benefits over five years for HV alone, while another estimated £16m (AUD$30 million) for LV and HV.

These benefits do not include any incentives for improved customer service or stakeholder engagement that self-service may support. They do not include any benefit from other applications for the data generated as part of this process to support strategic network development. They also do not include any reputational benefit that making this service available might bring.

One UK DNSP moving towards self-service connections, NIE Networks, has said:

“Our vision is to start with budget estimates and in time, progress to formal quotations for new LV connections. This is intended to not only empower our customers to receive an estimate or quotation much more quickly, but also help triage a quantum of the more speculative enquiries that we receive on an annual basis, thus freeing up our planning engineers to focus on the design work that will be productive.”

How are networks delivering self-service connections?

Most UK DNSPs that offer self-service connections use the VisNet Connect tool from EA Technology. This online platform integrates with a DNSP’s data and systems to create a seamless self-service experience.

A customer begins by visiting the DNSP’s connection page and completing a short interview regarding the connection type, size, and location. The tool is user-friendly and centers around the customer’s location. The DNSP's cables and transformers are color-coded on a map (red, amber, green) to indicate available capacity for the connection.

Using on-screen guidance, the customer draws the site boundary, premises outlines, and meter points or cabinet locations. Once this is done, VisNet Connect automatically selects a Point of Connection (PoC) with sufficient capacity on the existing network and optimizes the cable route based on cost.

VisNet Connect also performs an electrical assessment, checking for factors such as voltage drop, loop impedance, and cable and transformer utilization. It generates a bill of materials and provides an estimated cost for the connection. The data is passed to DNSP staff, who can review or modify the design as needed.

Data Quality and Self-Service Connections

A common concern regarding the shift to self-service connections is the accuracy of network data. While imperfect data can reduce the tool's accuracy, it can still provide significant value. Furthermore, adopting self-service solutions often drives investment in data improvement.

For example, one UK DNSP believed they had around 60 cable types in their network, but their data showed 780 different types due to inconsistencies in labeling. By resolving these discrepancies and mapping the correct cable types, they were able to include more accurate electrical assessments in their self-service tools. This allowed for the calculation of available thermal capacity, voltage headroom, and compliance with earth loop impedance limits.

Other issues DNSPs face include geospatial gaps, missing connectivity data, or incorrect network loops. Many of these problems can be addressed during the onboarding process, with further improvements made over time as data is corrected and integrated into the self-service platform.

Conclusion

Self-service connection tools were first deployed about five years ago in UK. Since then, their capability and acceptance has grown, with 86% of Great Britain's DNSPs now offering some form of self-service connection tool on their websites. Most of these services are provided using VisNet Connect from EA Technology. 

Looking forward, EA Technology predicts that self-service solutions will become the norm for DNSPs worldwide by the end of the decade. As data and software tools improve, the shift to digital, self-service connections will become essential for managing the increased workloads driven by the transition to a decarbonized society. Networks must evolve from being barriers to becoming enablers of the net-zero future, and self-service connections are a crucial tool in achieving this goal.

Explore EA Technology's range of innovative self-service connection tools here.