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Governance scenario

Gas Supply Emergency

National Gas declares a gas deficit warning due to supply disruption. NESO must coordinate electricity and gas system responses. Industrial users face curtailment and switching to electricity.

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This is a fictionalised teaching scenario grounded in real institutional roles, published reforms, and current public-source context.

Scenario player

Work through the decision path below. Each choice changes the route, the institutional trade-offs, and the metrics the scenario tracks.

Gas Supply Emergency

Step 1 of 2

NGT

Deficit warning issued

National Gas issues a deficit notice affecting the South East region. A major LNG terminal is offline. Forecasts suggest insufficient gas for winter peak. Industrial users with dual-fuel capacity begin switching to electricity. NESO sees a 4GW surge in electricity demand. If electricity demand spikes further, system voltage may drop.

What is at stake

  • -If you restrict electricity switching, industrial users lose flexibility and may exit the region.
  • -If switching continues unchecked, electricity system becomes insecure.
  • -If you curtail industrial gas demand, you accept economic damage.

What is your immediate response as NESO?

Current Metrics

System Security55
Affordability50
Net Zero Progress58
Customer Protection62
Operational Efficiency48
Stakeholder Trust52

Actors Involved

NGTNESOOfgemCitizensSuppliers

Regulatory Context

Gas (Standards of Conduct) Regulations and Gas Safety Management Regulations

Governance relationship map

View mode

Operating loop breadcrumb

Governance→Planning→Operations→Outcomes→Evidence

Current focus: Rules and accountability

Legend

Governance and policy

Rules, remits, and accountability

Planning and investment

Connections, queue progression, and delivery planning

System operations

Real-time balancing and network operation

Market and consumer outcomes

Prices, settlement, reliability, affordability

Evidence and learning

Telemetry, assurance, and continuous improvement

Glossary

  • Dispatch

    Real-time instructions to increase or reduce generation or demand so supply stays in balance.

  • Balancing

    The continuous process of matching electricity supply to demand while maintaining system frequency.

  • Constraint

    A technical limit in the network that restricts how power can flow under current conditions.

  • Industry code

    A formal rulebook that defines obligations and processes for specific market and network activities.

  • Connection agreement

    The formal agreement setting technical and milestone conditions for connecting a project to the network.

  • Settlement

    The process that turns metered and contractual positions into final market cashflow outcomes.

  • Conformance gate

    A quality checkpoint that verifies whether data or implementation meets agreed standards.

  • LTDS

    Long Term Development Statement publication requirements for distribution network data.

Guided tour

Step 1 of 8

Who sets the rules?

Start with governance: policy direction, regulatory oversight, licences, and code obligations.

Why it matters: Newcomers should first understand where authority sits before interpreting operational decisions.

Open Ofgem licence and code guidance

Preparing system graph…

Use this map to keep scenario decisions anchored to policy, coordination, operational delivery, and evidence feedback relationships.

Sources and methodology

How this page was assembled

Scenarios are designed as regulator-safe teaching runs. Institutional roles, programme context, and cited reform pathways stay grounded in current public sources, while event details and numbers inside the run remain fictionalised unless explicitly evidenced elsewhere. This scenario is framed against Gas (Standards of Conduct) Regulations and Gas Safety Management Regulations.

Last reviewed 18 March 2026

Primary sources

Ransford's Notes