Northern Powergrid’s Electricity Innovation Trial
Whitley Bay Big Local is taking part in a groundbreaking energy trial with Northern Powergrid, designed to give communities more control over how electricity is used and shared locally. This is part of a new way of thinking called the ‘cellular approach’.
Your local electricity system is a “cell” - a group of homes, businesses, and energy users all connected to the same electricity substation. By focusing on the local cell level, we can manage how energy is produced, used, and shared more efficiently right where it’s needed. For example, using local solar power more efficiently, shifting when devices like electric vehicle chargers or home batteries operate, and reducing the need for expensive upgrades to the electricity distribution grid.
To read the latest Community DSO project dissemination publications at any time, links are available from:
The aim is to test how communities like Whitley Bay can play an active role in making our energy system smarter and fairer, whether that is through directly managing how energy is used in the area, or simply by sharing data that helps the wider system run more smoothly.
Through this trial, we will learn how people want to be involved, how much flexibility they are comfortable with, and how local benefits (like lower bills or more community investment) can be delivered.
The “cell” or cellular approach is called Community DSO (Community Distribution System Operation).
Northern Powergrid (sometimes abbreviated to NPg) manages the electricity network that powers your everyday life amongst more than 8 million other people across 3.9 million homes and businesses in the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire. Northern Powergrid is also the owner, sponsor, financer and operator of this Community DSO innovation trial.
This Northern Powergrid Community DSO project is a five year £14.5m Ofgem-funded Network Innovation Competition (NIC) study being tested in the North East, Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire of England.
In partnership also with Ofgem, LCP Delta and TNEI, the ‘Community DSO’ trial is aiming to regularly disseminate learnings to guide and empower many communities to manage their own local energy systems more efficiently.
​During the trials, we will be testing how communities can generate, use and share their own electricity through optimising flexible energy assets (e.g. low carbon heating systems such as ground- or air-source heat pumps, electric car chargers, solar panels and battery storage) and help better manage power flows locally. This is part of the UK’s whole energy system plan to enable the sustainable electrification (and energy security) of the economy, and for government to build a total energy system that can bring down bills for households and businesses, whilst deliver Net Zero promises.
Trial Duration and Objectives
Planning for the Whitley Bay Community DSO trial began in September 2024, and the trial will run until September 2026. Active engagement with you, energy monitoring and management of local residents and small business properties will begin in September 2025. The Community Distribution System Operation (CDSO) trial aims to transform local energy management by integrating smart technologies, market-driven incentives, and community engagement. By participating, you’ll help optimise Whitley Bay’s community energy use by making better use of local solar generation, energy storage batteries and EV chargers as well as: •Increase substation capacity, allowing more homes to install low-carbon technologies (LCTs). •Reduce the need for costly grid upgrades by managing local energy flows. •Deliver financial and community benefits, rewarding participants for their role in improving energy efficiency. Your home is one of 400 addresses eligible to take part, as it is connected to Whitley South Substation (located behind the NHS medical centre).
Who is running the trial?
Trial Delivery Partners The trial is led by the Condor Consortium, which includes: • Consortium Lead Partner: Electric Places (Community Interest Company) • Community Partner: Whitley Bay Big Local (CIO) • Technical Partners: CleanWatts, EV.energy, Nodes, SMPnet
How you can take part
Benefits of Participation By joining the trial, you’ll help Whitley Bay use local energy more efficiently and be financially rewarded for doing so: •By agreeing to have a free Smart Hub (Kiome home energy management system), which tracks your energy use installed in your home you will earn £75, then £25 per quarter between September 2025 and September 2026. •By participating in trial events to adjust energy usage you may earn additional financial rewards. •No need to change your energy supplier or existing tariff. •Be part of the UK’s first-of-its-kind community energy project, helping shape the future of energy.
Trial participant responsibilities
You will be asked to • Confirm your participation through written active consent. • Allow the project team to install and monitor a Kiome Smart Hub in your home. • Ensure project equipment remains switched on and operational. • Allow access for maintenance if equipment or devices stop responding. • Provide feedback via short surveys, helping evaluate the project’s success.
To find out how your personal data will be collected, processed, and used as part of your participation in the Community DSO trial please click here
To read FAQs about the Community DSO trial trial click here