Click & Quote will enhance the Connections customer journey by reducing the time it takes to receive a quote when multiple customers apply for a connection at the same site. By removing duplicated effort and ensuring quote are issued promptly, the solution is expected to deliver more than £3 million in benefits by 2033.
What is the project about?
Click & Quote is exploring ways to streamline the process when multiple customers apply for a connection to the same site. This often occurs when a new development goes out to tender and several companies submit competing applications. Currently, we produce a separate design and quote for each application, resulting in duplicated effort for our designers and longer wait times for customers.
Click & Quote aims to automatically identify when an application relates to a site that has already received a previous request. It would then offer the new applicant the option to receive an anonymised version of the existing quote almost instantly. The system will continue to offer this quote to subsequent applicants until one of them accepts it. This approach will improve speed and consistency for customers, while reducing repetitive work for our designers and freeing capacity to handle rising application volumes as we support the transition to net zero.
How we’re doing it
We are using geospatial technology to record the precise location and shape of a customer’s site boundary when they submit a connection application. By combining this information with the load requirements of the request, we can identify when subsequent customers are applying for a connection to the same point on the electricity network. This enables us to instantly offer those customers an anonymised version of the existing quote, rather than requiring them to wait for a designer to produce a new one.
What makes it innovative
This project is an industry first. Click & Quote leverages historical quotation data and geospatial intelligence to deliver instant, anonymised quotes through a fully integrated digital platform. By granting access to previous quotes only after a formal application is submitted, the solution safeguards customer information and preserves competitive integrity. This approach represents a step-change in the quotation process—enhancing fairness, accelerating delivery for customers, and enabling a more efficient service as we support the transition to a net zero energy system.
What we’re learning
Click & Quote drives learning on several fronts. Firstly, there is a technical dimension: as a first‑of‑a‑kind project, we will test whether applications for the same connection can be accurately matched using geospatial and load data.
Secondly, we will learn how useful this approach is for customers, whether they choose to engage with instant, anonymised quotes and what additional enhancements might make the service even more valuable. Lastly, we will understand how our internal workflows need to evolve to support this level of automation, and what metrics we should use to measure the tool’s effectiveness in operation.
Share your ideas
If you have an idea that could reshape or revolutionise the way we work, we want to hear from you.
We use cookies to give you the best possible experience when using our website. Many of these cookies are essential to the efficient operation of this site.
