Your DNO's answer, read for you.

What it is

DNO approvals come back by email, usually as a PDF letter, onto the job's own thread. CLRD recognises the answer from all six DNO groups, National Grid, SSEN, SP Energy Networks, UK Power Networks, Northern Powergrid and Electricity North West, reads it, and tells you on the job what the DNO actually said, in plain words: an approval you can install on, or a pre-approval asking for a change first. It quotes the line that matters and names the document it read. This isn't AI guessing at a PDF: the reading is coded, so the same letter reads the same way every time. When you press Confirm Approved, the DNO reference and the export limit, if the letter sets one, are already filled in. Once you have confirmed it, one click sends the approval to your client, letter or email, so they have it without you forwarding anything. And before it arrives, the job shows how long approval has taken for its DNO and route, where CLRD has the figures.

Why it matters

The approval is where a job most often stalls in an inbox. Someone has to spot the letter, open it, find the reference and check whether the DNO has capped the export, then key it all in. Miss a capped limit and the paperwork after the install states the wrong figure. Then the client wants to know if they're approved, and someone has to forward the letter. CLRD does the reading and has the letter ready to send. You confirm, and click.

No more reading a PDF to copy a reference into a box.

• 19 kinds of DNO reply recognised on the job's thread, each put in the same plain words.
• A decision reads one of two ways, so you know what to do: an Approval you confirm and install on, or a Pre-approval where the DNO wants a change first, made with Amend.
• Coded, not AI. The same letter is read the same way every time.
• The DNO reference is filled in from the letter.
• Approved at a lower export limit than you asked for? CLRD says so, quotes the line from the letter, and fills in the figure, so commissioning states the limit you were granted.
• A connection offer on different equipment isn't treated as an approval. CLRD tells you there's nothing to record yet and points you at Amend.
• Every banner names the document it was read from, so you can open it and check.
• You still press Confirm Approved. Nothing is recorded without you.
• Before the answer, a quiet DNO is flagged: no acknowledgement within 2 working days (10 at operators that don't send one automatically), or no decision after 28 days.
• A connection offer with an acceptance form CLRD holds? The Approve popup can send the operator your signed acceptance, with any charge stated first.
• Confirmed? One click sends the approval to your client, whether it came as a letter or an email.
• An Approval ETA where CLRD has the figures: how long approval has taken for that DNO and route, from applications sent through CLRD.
• Today: all six DNO groups, in the letter and email formats CLRD has seen from each. An IDNO's approval, or a wording CLRD hasn't seen yet, is recorded by hand, as before.