Learnings

Outcomes

Development and deployment of the LAEP Tool 
Description: A web-based geospatial application, 'Your Local Net Zero Hub,' was developed to assist LAs in integrating local data with UK Power Networks' infrastructure information, facilitating the creation of optimised LAEPs.​ 
Quantitative Data: As of 31 March 2025, over 79% of the 133 LAs within the service area have registered and are actively utilising the tool to support them in developing their LAEPs.​ 
Stakeholder engagement and capacity building 
Description: The project conducted workshops and ongoing fortnightly training sessions to enhance the capabilities of LA staff in energy planning and tool utilisation.​ Training has allowed for drop in question and answer sessions as well as structured content sessions focusing on key themes or use cases relevant to local authorities.  
Quantitative Data: Approximately 85.1% of participating LAs reported increased confidence in developing and implementing their LAEPs post-training.​ 
Data integration and transparency 
Description: The tool integrates over 60 datasets, including third-party, open data, and UK Power Networks' proprietary data, to provide comprehensive planning insights.​ Having all these datasets in one place saves LAs time and budget in sourcing and preparing for use.   
Quantitative Data: UK Power Networks are not mandating that the LAEP+ tool supplied must be used by LAs and have made all these datasets exportable outside of the tool for use in other planning tools should they prefer it.  
Integration into Business-as-Usual (BaU) Operations 
Description: The LAEP tool has been adopted by UK Power Networks' internal teams, ensuring its continued use and support beyond the project's lifespan.​ 
Quantitative Data:  
The tool is now utilised to support the relevant energy planning processes within UK Power Networks’ DSO.  
Nine in-depth assessments of decarbonisation plans, or LAEPs were shared in September 2024 with local intelligence covering 32 local authorities to inform our DFES 2025. 
Cross Border Collaboration 
Description: When embarking on decarbonisation planning, LAs are faced with the situation where they are served by more than one DNO/DSO within the council or districts boundary. Through the project UK Power Networks explored the options through collaboration with AITL, SSEN and NGED that would provide the most efficient user experience. This resulted in a common agreement for LAs to use the relevant DSO instance of LAEP+ that provides the larger footprint to the council.  
 

Lessons Learnt

The importance of scope definition 
The project invested significant time and effort in user research to define the requirements of the solution. The requirements were defined as high level user stories that AITL responded to through the tender process. AITL response prioritised the user stories into software releases through the course of the project and a fully costed proposal.  Having a definition of high-level user stories means that it was necessary to conduct a process of co-design and iteration following an agile product delivery model. This approach leant itself to agile learning particularly as new needs emerged from LAs and stakeholders over time. We recommend taking this approach for similar projects but suggest including the process of co-design and iteration from the outset.  
Balancing agile roles and responsibilities 
The project benefited from an iterative, agile approach, allowing adjustments based on user feedback. However, the project soon realised a difference in expectations between AITL and UK Power Networks regarding the roles and responsibilities with the agile delivery approach. With AITL expecting autonomy on design decisions and UK Power Networks expecting to be decision makers on the design and scope, with user testing and ultimate sign off.  This took time to resolve with several workshops and ways of working sessions to explore and get right between both parties.  
 
Making this clear at the early stages of the relationship is crucial. Providing clarity in the tender process but also to exercise a pre-contract trial delivery stage zero to validate process, roles, approach, expectations and tease out any misunderstandings or ambiguity. Alignment is crucial in projects such as this and although roles and responsibilities might be written in a tender, and respective tender response, it is crucial to develop an agile approach that works for all parties. Putting into practice to learn specifically how teams will work together as early as possible. 
Digital and data innovation commercial arrangements 
With software development projects there are many unknowns that can only be learnt through research and continuous product experimentation with real users. This is in addition to qualitative user research interviews that lean on user’s opinions and experiences.  It is impossible to assume what the conclusions will be from experiments, and this makes it very difficult to map out a 15-month (or longer) project of product features with any degree of certainty.  Approaching innovation as large projects with third party suppliers increases the risk of failure because it can lean too heavily on the assumptions and scope made at the start and be confined by the commercial arrangements between the customer and supplier. There is caution from the supplier to only deliver as per the contractual scope and equally there is caution from the customer that value is delivered within the envelope of the project.  
 
Traditional commercial models that follow a more waterfall approach aim to define details upfront and track the delivery against a tightly defined scope don’t serve this purpose. Instead, alternative commercial arrangements and project delivery approaches should be explored (i.e. commercial agreements that are designed to support agile ways of working).   One might also explore alternative models like resource augmentation to afford true agility and flexible working without commercial constraints with niche startup suppliers.     
Effective stakeholder coordination is critical 
Managing input from multiple LAs, regulators, and energy system stakeholders required structured engagement. Building relationships with stakeholders takes time and establishing a user group of interested parties was hugely valuable to obtaining frequent feedback and steer.  Some LAs were more engaged than others, highlighting the need for targeted communication and support based on their varying levels of expertise. Regular updates and feedback loops improved engagement but it was important to find the right balance of communication with targeted messaging so as not to bombard users.  Collaborative tools such as Typeform, Card Sorting, Hotjar and Trello helped in making the user engagement fun and collaborative.  
Managing data complexity and integration 
The integration of multiple datasets was more challenging than anticipated due to differences in formats, availability, and data quality. Time had to be allocated for data cleansing and validation, which wasn’t initially accounted for in early project planning. Future projects should allocate more resources for managing data complexity from the start. 
User training and change management take longer than expected 
While the LAEP tool was designed to be intuitive, there is a learning curve for users.  LAs required onboarding and additional software support, which meant an increased dependency on customer success management and training.  Future digital tools should aim to make the functionality more intuitive to allow users to onboard with ease but, if necessary, then to develop self-service, online training resources from the outset. 
The need for a clear ownership and handover from the start 
Transitioning the tool from a project phase to BaU was an important step. Clear ownership within UK Power Networks was identified early with DSO Local Net Zero team who were involved consistently from the start of the project ensuring continuity for transition after project completion. Early planning and rehearsal of post-project process and governance is key for long-term sustainability, thereby taking a product centric approach to the with the BaU resources.  
Regulatory and industry engagement takes time 
Engaging with industry bodies and policymakers required longer lead times than initially planned. Regulatory considerations evolved throughout the project, requiring flexibility to incorporate new requirements. Future projects should factor in regulatory engagement as an ongoing process with dedicated time and resource. 
The importance of internal alignment and cross-team collaboration 
Success depended on collaboration between multiple teams (e.g., data, engineering, engagement, network planning, connections). Internal alignment meetings were essential to coordinate and maintain sharing of information and capture internal shaping of the outcomes. Clear roles, responsibilities, and escalation points helped keep things moving efficiently. 
Digital tools require continuous user feedback loops 
The iterative design of the LAEP tool benefitted from ongoing feedback from users, but managing these inputs required structured prioritisation. Not all user requests could be accommodated, so having a transparent process for prioritizing feedback and providing transparency on decisions was essential.  Taking an approach of providing feedback on insights in the form of; “You Said”, “We Did” making clear the relationship between their feedback and the actions being taken.  Future projects should establish a structured feedback system early on to manage evolving user needs effectively.