CEER Electricity Smart Grid Performance Indicators (2026)

CEER Paper on Electricity “Smart Grid” Performance Indicators — Ref: C25-DS-98-7.1, published 8 January 2026 by CEER’s Distribution System Working Group. A follow-up to the joint ACER-CEER guidance paper on smart-grid performance indicators of June 2024, proposing a concrete, limited set of indicators NRAs can use to monitor DSO performance in developing a smart, flexible grid — implementing Article 59(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/944 (which requires NRAs to monitor connection/repair times and set quality-of-service standards).

The six distribution-relevant dimensions

The 2024 guidance paper set out 7 output dimensions; this paper refines them, drops connection-specific language from dimension 2 (connection now sits under dimension 1 for generation and dimension 2 for load), and defers the 7th dimension — “market integration” (this paper explicitly amends the 2024 paper’s dimension name by removing “cross-border,” since integration within a country is also relevant) — to a separate, coordinated ACER paper covering transmission specifically. This paper addresses only the 6 distribution-relevant dimensions.

The 14 proposed output indicators

Not mandatory or fully harmonized: CEER’s explicit position is that “a few indicators should be used in all Member States,” with “a wider basket of optional indicators” left to national discretion depending on market structure, network configuration, and policy priorities. The paper deliberately leaves some indicators loosely defined (e.g. “type and amount of voltage quality events” is a placeholder for a country-specific basket) rather than prescribing exact metrics.

Methodology and evidence base

• Reviewed ~343 indicators already in use across CEER member countries as of mid-2024 (36 for D1, 56 for D2, 95 for D3, 38 for D4, 38 for D5, 27 for D6, 53 for the transmission-only D7) — not a complete or harmonized inventory, but sufficient to identify a common core
• 13 stakeholder responses to a June 2024 call for input (4 DSO/associations, 3 research/consulting, 2 manufacturers, 2 utilities, 1 public sector, 1 TSO); 6 of 13 supported the proposed dimensions as-is
• Further refinement through discussions with ACER, ENTSO-E, the EU DSO Entity, and the European Commission between November 2024 and June 2025

The performance evaluation framework — NDP + Business Plan + indicators

The paper frames indicator development as one leg of a three-part “triptych” system operators and NRAs should build:

1. A network development plan (scenarios, planning methodology, resulting project portfolio) — see Distribution Network Development Plan
2. A business plan — a TOTEX view of the network action plan (infrastructure, non-infrastructure/OPEX alternatives, flexibility) covering both cost elements and expected impact
3. A performance evaluation framework — the indicators themselves, linking output objectives to the input functionalities (investment, innovative operation, flexibility) that achieve them

Six-stage NRA-led process for developing indicators (this generic process description is inherited from the 2024 framework and refers to the original 7 dimensions, not the 6 refined here): (1) identify objectives/output indicators against the 7 dimensions; (2) map input functionalities that could achieve them; (3) identify prerequisites/conditions for applying each functionality; (4) define the data needed to evaluate achievement and cost-effectiveness; (5) select final output + input indicators; (6) define the performance evaluation framework itself (revenue regulation, incentive regulation, regulatory reporting, cost-benefit models). Steps 5–6 are explicitly the NRA’s own prerogative.

Publication: CEER recommends NRAs either publish a stand-alone smart-grid monitoring report, or fold it into their annual report — noting Art. 59(1) already requires NRAs to monitor connection/repair times and quality-of-service standards, so a combined report gives “a more holistic view of network performances.”

Relevance to existing wiki

• Digitalization and Smart Grid — resolves the previously-flagged “ACER/CEER common EU smart-grid indicators” gap. Note: this paper does not itself mention a “June 2026” date; that phrasing in the prior gap likely referred to something else (possibly conflated with the parallel ACER transmission-side paper, or an EU indicator survey deadline) and should not be assumed resolved by date-matching alone — resolved here on substance (this is CEER’s DSO-side smart-grid indicators output), not on date confirmation.
• Source - Ei R2026-02 Utvecklingen av Smarta Elnät (2025) — Sweden’s own smart-grid indicator report (13 indicators, 3 categories: Förutsättning/Användning/Prestation) predates this EU-level framework by a few weeks; worth comparing dimension-by-dimension in a future review to see how well Ei’s existing indicator set already aligns with the 6 CEER dimensions, or whether Ei will need to add indicators (e.g. Ei R2026:02 was not read in enough depth here to complete that mapping — flagged as a data gap).
• Distribution Network Development Plan — the paper’s “triptych” framing (NDP + Business Plan + performance framework) directly cites DNDPs as the scenario/planning leg.
• ACER — joint ACER-CEER work; the transmission-side companion paper (7th dimension, market integration) is a distinct, not-yet-ingested document.
• Congestion Management, Distribution System Operator — hosting-capacity and connection-time indicators bear directly on connection-queue and congestion-management questions already covered there.