Self-service adoption agreements for ICPs

We developed, trialled and implemented a new self-service adoption agreement process for ICPs.

In line with our commitment to minimise input services for ICPs and to facilitate fair and open competition in connections, we included an action in our 2018/19 ICE plan to develop a new self-service adoption agreement process.

For every new site - whether it's a single street lighting connection or new housing development - ICPs are required to enter into a new adoption agreement with us. Previously, we issued  this agreement to ICPs on request, but following feedback from an ICP operating in our region, we included an action in our ICE plan to develop, trial and implement a new self-service process that would speed up the process and reduce the connections input services we're required to provide. 

To achieve this, we created a new adoption agreement template that allows ICPs to create their own asset adoption agreements. Now, ICPs need only to complete a few details bespoke to the individual site and make a declaration that the work has been conducted in such a way that meets our adoption standards before submitting to Northern Powergrid for legal completion. 

The action was delivered by our forecast completion date of August 2018 and we  moved quickly to communicate the new process to all ICPs in our region in a letter from our dedicated Competition in Connections (CiC).

ICPs are already using the template to complete their own adoption agreements and we continue to proactively promote the new and improved process during our monthly CiC surgeries. There was also a presentation made at our ICP seminar in November 2018.