Summary

  • Ofgem’s 12 October consultation names ElectraLink’s EMPRIS as its minded-to route for a proposed Central Asset Register, citing delivery readiness and stronger confidence in the plan and costs.
  • The regulator rates EMPRIS amber for governance and trust. Under the proposed design, DNOs would carry the licence obligations while ElectraLink runs the service through an agreement.
  • The register is proposed, not operational. Responses close on 7 December; Ofgem expects a final decision in Spring 2027.

Small rooftop solar systems, home batteries and other distributed energy resources can matter to network planning long before they appear as a complete, consistent record. Ofgem says the information now sits across fragmented systems and processes. Its proposed Central Asset Register (CAR) would improve how data are stored, reconciled and shared, concentrating first on assets below 1 MW and especially those below 50 kW, where visibility gaps are greatest.

The consultation narrows the delivery choice to two existing platforms. Elexon’s option would build on its Flexibility Market Asset Registration (FMAR) platform, which is still in development. ElectraLink’s option would expand EMPRIS, an operational data-management and analytics platform, into an asset register. Ofgem’s emerging preference is ElectraLink: it sees more delivery readiness and greater confidence in the implementation and cost assumptions. This is a minded-to position, not a final appointment.

The evidence from the earlier consultation points in the same direction on centralisation, though not to a settled provider choice. Of 31 respondents who answered whether intervention was needed, 25 agreed and six partly agreed. Among 29 who expressed a delivery preference, 23 favoured a centralised approach; 11 named Elexon, seven ElectraLink and one supported both.

The harder question is who would answer for the register once it exists. ElectraLink is a for-profit company wholly owned by DNOs and has operated the Data Transfer Service for more than 25 years. Ofgem gives its CAR proposal green ratings for delivery, technical capability, value and stakeholder coordination; interoperability is amber/green. Governance and trust is amber. The proposed electricity-distribution licence condition would put core duties for delivery, performance, funding and reporting on DNOs. ElectraLink would operate under a multi-party service agreement.

Ofgem says this leaves accountability indirect because the service provider itself would not be directly regulated under the model.

That distinction does not mean there would be no oversight. Ofgem says licence obligations and proportionate assurance could support the arrangement, and its draft impact assessment identifies no clear governance blocker. It does mean the final design needs to show how a regulator can test performance at the delivery layer when formal duties sit with the network companies that own the provider.

Cost confidence also matters to the minded-to view. The initial provider estimates put Elexon at £7.2 million and ElectraLink at £11.5 million. Ofgem’s central illustrative sensitivity raises those totals to £21.6 million and £17.2 million respectively, making ElectraLink the lower figure under that stress test. The regulator says these uplifts test the assessment’s robustness; they are not forecasts of actual overruns.

Ofgem says the proposed register should support planning, operational and policy decisions. Its consultation closes on 7 December, with a final choice expected in Spring 2027. Until then, the governance test is specific: which DNO obligations, data-quality controls, assurance rights and service-level remedies will let Ofgem follow a record from submission through correction and use?

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