Standards and guidance

We develop and maintain the engineering recommendations, reports and guidance used by the network operators to support the management of a safe and reliable electricity network. All engineering recommendations, reports and guidance documents can be found on the ENA Engineering Document Catalogue.

ENA documents and specifications are drafted to assist our members in complying with relevant statutory obligations as set out in their Licence Conditions, and in the Distribution Code and its supporting documents.

Documents produced by us are developed using input from a combination of experts within our membership, the use of specialist external consultants, relevant UK and GB Trade Associations and industry bodies, manufacturers, suppliers, and users of the documents.

Our documents primarily consist of:

• Technical Specifications (TS) typically based around/on International (IEC) and British and European (BS EN) standards with additional UK and GB requirements and;
• Engineering Recommendations (EREC) and Reports (ETR & EREP) typically focused on best practice or guidance information, however application of EREC documents that support Distribution Code compliance is mandatory.

ENA members have developed three guides to the standards for suppliers and customers, including how to contact your distribution network operator in the event of a query or claim:

• Metered Connections Guaranteed Standards of Service for Electricity Distribution Companies in England, Wales & Scotland (May 2021)
• Unmetered Connections Standards of Service for Electricity Distribution Companies in England, Wales & Scotland (May 2021)
• Guaranteed Standards of Performance for Metered Demand Customers of Electricity Distribution Companies in England, Wales & Scotland (May 2021)

Gas Industry Standards (GIS) are product specifications for gas carrying assets and some specialist tooling used by the Gas Networks in the UK. They are jointly owned and maintained by National Gas, Cadent, SGN, Northern Gas Networks, Wales & West Utilities, the Independent Networks Association and Gas Networks Ireland under the governance of the Technical Standards Forum (TSF).

All Gas Industry Standards are available on ENA's Publications Page.

A common objective for Gas Networks is to use product specifications that are consistent across the industry. This is to prevent divergence of standards which would lead to additional complexity and cost in manufacturing, and to confusion in the marketplace. Additionally, the use of a single product conformance certification process reduces duplication of effort for product approval. Product approvals may vary by specification and are outlined in the spreadsheet below.

View the complete record of Gas Industry Standards and their approval requirements here.

There are a number of other shared industry procedures used by the Gas Networks in the UK. Additional information on these procedures can be found here.