Over the last year, the sustainable future team has gone into the field to shadow heat pump installers working in households.

We learned that a heat pump installer has to juggle many duties, including admin work. In fact, a 2024 Nesta survey found that 19% of heat pump installers said time spent on unnecessary tasks or administration was the biggest challenge preventing them from doing more installs.

As a response, Nesta is doing work to understand the opportunities to reduce this burden. 

We were kindly invited to spend a day in the office of Your Energy Your Way to observe the kinds of tasks that happen behind-the-scenes of a solar and heat pump installer company. One such task is applying to the distribution network operator (DNO) for every new install.

Interestingly, Your Energy Your Way told us that applying to the DNO is not currently a major bottleneck for their business because they have a large pipeline of complex jobs; there are plenty of other issues that take even longer, and they pre-emptively apply and book jobs weeks or months in advance.

However, this doesn’t apply to all companies, and in the scenario of a mass rollout, the DNO application process will increasingly become a limiting factor for heat pump installers.

DNOs operate and maintain the local electricity distribution network and keep voltage and capacity within safe limits. They are responsible for maintaining the cables, transformers, and cut-outs that make up the local grid and provide power to homes and businesses in their area. They also oversee and approve new home installations - each new heat pump, solar array, or electric vehicle charger needs to be factored into the total load of the grid to ensure it isn’t overloaded.

Note: DNOs are different to electricity transmission operators, which move electricity over long distances using power lines from power stations to different parts of the country. The DNO takes that electricity and delivers it to homes and businesses using smaller power lines and cables.

When households install new hardware, like heat pumps, these add additional sustained load to the network. It’s important for the DNO to have as much visibility as possible into new connections to properly manage the load.

However, unlike MCS certification (which is required to get a Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant), there is less incentive for installers to complete a DNO application. We’ve learned that some installers neglect this step entirely because it is tedious and some feel it isn’t necessary.

The DNO application process is evolving as demand for heat pumps grows. Through listening to installers during the shadowing and talking with others in the industry, we have identified several challenges with this process.

A mismatch between records and reality

• The cut-out is a small fuse unit where a DNO cable enters the property. Every cut-out should have a cut-out rating, meaning the maximum current, in amps, that the service fuse in the cut-out is allowed to supply.
• Unfortunately, cut-outs are often unlabeled or blank, or sometimes mislabeled (eg, a 60A cutout is labelled 100A on the outside, or vice-versa). Usually only DNO-approved technicians can open the cut-out, so heat pump installers or electricians cannot check it - although some DNOs have relaxed these rules.
• As part of a DNO application, an installer must indicate if the planned demand will exceed the cut-out rating. If the cut-out rating is missing or incorrect, they first need to request information from the DNO, and potentially schedule a technician to visit to assess or upgrade the supply. The difference between a quick approval where the cut-out rating is known and waiting for a technician visit can be weeks to months.

Difficulty finding devices in the ENA database

• Installers must specify in their application which device(s) they are installing, referencing the Energy Networks Association (ENA) database.
• We learned that it takes time for new devices to populate in this database. So if an installer is doing a job with a new device, they cannot complete the application until the database is updated with the new information, or they have to wait for a manual check from the DNO. We’ve heard that the burden is sometimes placed on installers to chase up manufacturers for product specification sheets.
• Adding to the challenge, the product code for the same device is referenced inconsistently across supplier, manufacturer, MCS, and ENA databases, which can lead to confusion and wasted time.

Overlapping systems create friction

• ENA has released a new, centralised portal and application interface that allows all DNO applications to follow the same flow. This is a step in the right direction, but the implementation is still incomplete: it only covers the initial application, and additional follow-ups mostly happen through email conversations.
• Every DNO has a different process, including email templates, requirements, lead-times, and fragmented web portals that aren’t maintained. We’ve heard that most installers just stick to email rather than try to use the web portals because they aren’t user-friendly.
• None of these systems share a common backend, and information doesn’t sync between them.
• DNOs use their own customer relationship management technology (like Salesforce) to manage applications received via email and Connect Direct. There is inertia from them to stick to their systems optimised for the current email-based flow.

The DNO application is often a significant fraction of the administrative work required for each heat pump installation. It’s a very different skillset to that of the physical installation, and currently requires knowledge, time, and patience to navigate a complex, fragmented, and outdated system. Medium- and large-size installer companies can afford to have a dedicated member of staff in their back office, but small installers don’t have that luxury, and their effectiveness is limited by the challenges we listed above.

The administrative burden of the DNO application is a significant barrier to scaling heat pump adoption. There’s a real need for better integration and standardization between DNOs, and a simpler application process for installers.

One of the approaches we are exploring is developing agentic AI systems that manage the DNO application process on behalf of installers. We think this could significantly reduce the admin burden on installers.