20 March 2026
Ofgem has been tasked with implementing licensed code management to enable faster, more strategically aligned rule changes across the energy system. In gas, this includes consolidating the Uniform Network Code (UNC) and the IGT UNC into a single code and introducing a Licensed Code Manager.
Code reform presents the opportunity to modernise governance, simplify processes and accelerate change. But it must also safeguard expertise, impartiality and continuity - the foundations that ensure the gas market operates reliably every day.
Gas is a complex and highly specialised system. For more than 20 years, Xoserve has operated at the centre of that system as the Central Data Services Provider. Xoserve manages the central register of supply points, supports settlement and switching, and ensures that the data flows, which keep the market balanced, operate securely and accurately. Alongside this, Encodar (operator of the Joint Office of Gas Transporters) and Talan have extensive experience in code governance and administration, supporting modification processes and stakeholder engagement across the UNC and IGT UNC. Together, our organisations bring complementary expertise across data services, code administration and governance.
Our shared approach reflects a simple principle: the industry must retain its expertise while gearing up for meaningful, strategically enabled change. The application to undertake the Licensed Code Manager role brings together complementary strengths - long-standing gas operational knowledge, independent governance, and board oversight, practical transition experience and deep code administration capability.
By combining these capabilities, we can ensure code reform is delivered with value, accountability and impartiality at its core.
The industry does not need disruption for its own sake. It needs faster, better coordinated change that is grounded in operational reality. Code reform offers the opportunity to simplify and consolidate, remove duplication and align rule changes more strategically with sector priorities, including the continued role of gas in the journey to net zero. That acceleration, however, must be balanced with careful transition management and risk control.
Collaboration is essential to achieving that balance and our proposition is unique as it represents a whole-industry collaboration, providing a golden thread from policy to service delivery. Through central data service delivery, business planning, code administration and modification processes, organisations across the gas sector already work closely with stakeholders to ensure the market operates effectively. Code reform offers the opportunity to enhance and consolidate that engagement further, ensuring that change is shaped with industry rather than imposed on it.
Effective code reform requires more than structural redesign. It requires organisations that understand operational detail, that can manage complexity at scale, and that are prepared to be held to account. It requires continuity of expertise alongside the capability to deliver improvement.
By working together, the gas sector can retain its specialist knowledge while enabling more efficient, coherent and strategically aligned change. Code reform done well will strengthen confidence, preserve accountability, and ensure that the gas market remains resilient and trusted as it evolves.
Get in touch
If you have any feedback or questions on any of the above, please email us at communications@xoserve.com.
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