Reserve Services
NESO
NESO procures additional power at specific times of the day, either through increased generation or reduced demand, through Reserve Services. This allows them to balance higher than expected electricity demand on Britain’s transmission system.
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#TSO
#loadreduction
Reserve Services
is inactive or no longer accepting new applicants. Add your assets now and we’ll notify you the moment it reopens.
Register
Service details
Service type
Load reduction and load increase
Eligible technologies
All DER types
Competition frequency
Daily
Locational scope
Territory-wide
Seasonality
Year-round
Eligibility
Direct
Aggregated
Residential
This participation route is eligible.
This participation route may be eligible
This participation route is not eligible.
This participation route is eligible.
This participation route may be eligible
This participation route is not eligible.
Commercial & Industrial
This participation route is eligible.
This participation route may be eligible
This participation route is not eligible.
This participation route is eligible.
This participation route may be eligible
This participation route is not eligible.
Front-of-the-Meter
This participation route is eligible.
This participation route may be eligible
This participation route is not eligible.
This participation route is eligible.
This participation route may be eligible
This participation route is not eligible.
Services include Balancing Reserve, BM start up, Fast Reserve, Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR), Super SEL, Slow Reserve, and Quick Reserve.
Key details
Participants submit reserve capability and price via day‑ahead or weekly/monthly tenders. Some products (e.g. Balancing Reserve, Quick Reserve) use day‑ahead pay‑as‑clear auctions; others (e.g., STOR) use contracted tenders or bilateral agreements.
Reserve is instructed manually via the Balancing Mechanism or dedicated dispatch systems. Some products (Quick Reserve) require near‑instant activation; others (STOR/Slow Reserve) allow longer notice and duration.
Two‑part settlement: availability (holding) payments for being on standby plus utilisation payments for energy delivered during activation. Rates and mechanisms vary by product but follow the same core structure.
Listing last updated on
08 August 2025
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