In a recent episode of Powerverse’s Next Time Around podcast, Victoria Moxham, Director of Customer and Code Management at Elexon, explores how the GB electricity market is evolving in response to the demands of the net zero transition.
In a recent episode of Powerverse’s Next Time Around podcast, Victoria Moxham, Director of Customer and Code Management at Elexon, explores how the GB electricity market is evolving in response to the demands of the net zero transition.
How the sector is changing
Elexon is very aware how the system has shifted dramatically in recent years. The energy sector is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its history, driven by the transition to net zero and rapid advances in technology.
Traditional, centralised generation is increasingly being replaced by a more decentralised mix of renewable energy sources, including wind and solar.
Reflecting on the scale of change, Victoria notes:
“It’s not the company or the industry that I joined 23 years ago. We’re a wildly different organisation.”
More broadly, the sector itself has shifted into the spotlight.
“Energy is something that people talk about, it’s in the paper, it’s in the news every day. It’s so relevant now compared to back then.”
This growing visibility reflects a deeper structural shift.
The move away from traditional generation towards a more decentralised, renewable system is driving new challenges-and opportunities.
Flexibility takes centre stage
Elexon knows how much Flexibility has rapidly moved from a niche concept to a central pillar of the energy transition. Victoria notes:
“We’re using words that we just didn’t use 20 years ago. Flexibility is becoming so important,”
At its core, flexibility is about making better use of available resources.
“The whole flexibility thing is really about making sure that we’re making use of an energy system as efficiently as possible, managing those peaks and troughs and making use of that much more distributed local clean energy that we’ve got at our fingertips.”
As renewable generation increases, so too does the need to balance intermittency.
This is where flexibility-across technologies, locations and participants-plays a crucial role.
Victoria highlighted how the system is no longer reliant on large, centralised power stations, adding:
“It’s all of that kind of flexible clean energy that is important.”
The rise of data and digitalisation
Alongside flexibility, the rapid growth in data is reshaping the market.
With the move to Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement, the volume of data being processed is increasing dramatically.
“The data that we’re going to be crunching is just going to be rising exponentially, it’s 500-billion-meter readings a year,” “I can’t even picture how many noughts that is.”
This step change in data availability is enabling more accurate insights and unlocking new opportunities for innovation.
“That richness of data means that suppliers will be able to offer Time-of-Use tariffs in a way that they never have before,”
“Even if you don’t have a smart meter in your household you’ll benefit from that data that enables us to make profiles that are much more accurate.”
Elexon’s digitalisation efforts, including new platforms and the Smart Data Repository, are designed to support this shift and provide the industry with access to increasingly granular and valuable datasets.
Creating clearer, more effective markets
As the system becomes more complex, the need for clear frameworks becomes more important.
This is particularly true in flexibility markets, where inconsistent rules have historically created barriers to participation. Victoria explains:
“There was a bit of a lack of consistency, rules weren’t particularly clear,”
“There was a real concern that we weren’t getting the most as an industry out of flexibility.”
Elexon’s role in facilitating these markets is focused on addressing this challenge.
“Really good things come from governance and rules when they’re clear and everybody’s on a level playing field and has a real understanding.”
By establishing consistent frameworks, improving transparency and supporting compliance, the aim is to make flexibility markets more accessible and attractive.
“The clearer the rules, the easier it is for people to adopt it,” Victoria adds.
Making flexibility work for consumers
While much of this transformation is technical, its success ultimately depends on consumer participation.
However, Victoria is clear that engagement must be simple and seamless.
“For most consumers they probably don’t want to have to make any decisions or even engage in it at all,”.
Instead, the focus should be on automation and ease of use.
“You just want your electric car to be charged by the time you wake up. You don’t care when it’s charged as long as it’s ready.”
This approach-making flexibility effectively invisible-will be key to increasing participation. Victoria explains.
“It needs to be something that consumers don’t even need to think about,” At the same time, incentives remain important:
“If consumers can see that if they do change their habits, there’s a lower bill at the end of the day, then that’s going to encourage people.”
Trust, interoperability and collaboration
As more devices and technologies become part of the energy system, interoperability and trust are essential. Victoria stated that:
“If we have any hope of wanting to get consumers actively involved, they need to be confident,”
Victoria, pointed to the importance of data security and consistent standards.
This requires collaboration across a wide range of stakeholders.
“The crucial thing is bringing together all of those players-manufacturers, service providers, consumer organisations, regulators, government.”
Establishing clear requirements and governance frameworks will help ensure that systems work together seamlessly and that consumers can participate with confidence.
Looking ahead
With continued change on the horizon, the pace of transformation shows no sign of slowing. Victoria reflected:
“It’s exciting, lots of our new responsibilities are working towards that flexibility agenda and towards genuinely making sure that we’re achieving our clean power targets,”
At the same time, the increasing volume of data and the application of technologies such as AI are opening new possibilities.
“We’re on the cusp of exciting things with that kind of absolute tsunami of data that we’ve got at our disposal,”
As the energy system continues to evolve, the combination of flexibility, data and collaboration will be critical to delivering a more efficient, resilient and low-carbon future.