How to get your G98 or G99 certificate online

Customers ask for "the G98 certificate" or "the G99 certificate" all the time, usually because their electricity supplier wants proof the system is registered with the network. There's no certificate. What exists is the Distribution Network Operator's written confirmation: on G99, the approval before install (a connection offer, or on Fast Track the confirmation that the assessment is complete); on G98, the acknowledgement of your notification; and on every route, the DNO response after commissioning confirming your documents are logged.

That last one is what the customer needs. SSEN's guidance says most suppliers require a "DNO Response" before they'll accept an export tariff application, and defines it as the email confirming the DNO has logged the commissioning documents and the system is compliant with G98 or G99. When a customer asks for their certificate, they mean that email.

Step 1: Identify the DNO

The application goes to the network operator that owns the cables at the property, not the customer's energy supplier. How to find your DNO covers the lookup. Do it before you quote, because every route, fee and timeline below depends on it.

Step 2: Work out the route

The 16A per phase aggregate at the property decides it, and existing generation counts toward the total. G98 vs G99 covers the thresholds and edge cases, and the DNO application checker works the route out from the postcode and the kit.

Step 3: Get the form data right

Most rejections are data mismatches, not unsuitable sites. Why G99 applications get rejected lists the usual ones, and export limitation under G100 covers when a scheme is needed.

Step 4: Submit online

On G98 you install and commission first, then notify. On Fast Track the SGI category decides whether you notify or apply, and the Fast Track process covers the forms and what pushes a job into a full G99.

How you submit depends on the network, and this is the part that has genuinely moved online:

• National Grid Electricity Distribution has one online form for applying and notifying. The initial application takes around 15 to 20 minutes and the follow-up notification 10 to 15. You get instant acknowledgement, and the form generates the MPAN if you don't have it. Paper forms by email or post are still accepted.
• SSEN takes Fast Track applications by email to a dedicated address, and domestic G98 notifications by email to separate north and south addresses.

Step 5: What it costs

There's no national fee. Each network publishes its own charges, and what you pay depends on the route:

• G98 and SGI-1 notifications don't produce a connection offer, so there's no assessment charge.
• Fast Track SGI-2 and SGI-3: whether there's a charge, and how much, varies by DNO, so check yours.
• A full G99 carries an assessment and design charge. National Grid's June 2026 East Midlands charging statement sets minimums for LV generation of £641 up to 20kVA, £1,283 from 20kVA to 50kVA and £1,731 above 50kVA, ex VAT and payable when you accept the offer. Jobs needing HV works start at £2,071, payable when the offer is issued.

That's broadly £500 to £2,500 for a domestic or small commercial full G99. Figures change each year and differ between networks, so take the number from your own DNO's statement and put it on the quote.

Step 6: How long it takes

G98 adds nothing to the programme. SSEN and National Grid both aim to respond to Fast Track within 10 working days of a complete application. A full G99 runs to a 45 working day target for the connection offer, per the ENA's G99 guide.

Step 7: Close it off and send the confirmation

On the G99 routes, Form A3-2 goes back to the DNO within 28 days of commissioning; on SSEN you have up to three months after Fast Track approval to install and commission. On G98 the commissioning confirmation is the notification itself. Either way, forward the DNO response to the customer as soon as it lands. Automating commissioning submissions stops that step waiting on someone's to-do list, and it's also when the rest of the compliance file has to be finished.

Two statuses before then need you to act: further information required and DNO works required, which usually moves the date you gave the customer.

Across 30 active jobs, the submission is rarely the bottleneck. Tracking statuses by hand is: a "further information required" that nobody sees costs the same assessment window as a rejection. What to automate around it is where most growing install businesses win that time back.