more on what net currents are and how they arise in the UK

• Exposures from distribution circuits arise from net currents.  In turn, net currents arise from either multiple earthing or from interconnected neutrals.  Both of these have safety benefits and SAGE decided it was not justified to remove them.  But SAGE does recommend measures, mainly existing best practice anyway, to reduce net currents: e.g. balancing loads across phases and using plastic gas and water pipes. 
• One particular feature - broken neutral conductors - can produce high magnetic fields, and SAGE is keen that DNOs investigate and repair these. 
• There are ways, in principle, of reducing net currents using inductors.  SAGE decided further investigation was needed of the practicality and, particularly, the safety of these on the UK system
• Similarly, broken neutrals could be detected in principle by routine measurements, but SAGE decided further investigation was needed of the practicability of this.

SAGE endorsed existing best practice to site plant rooms away from occupied areas and to use low-field arrangements for risers, but decided that retrofitting these would have to be a matter of consumer choice and cost.

• Intermediate voltage circuits - mainly 11 kV and 33 kV - are not usually a major source of elevated fields, but can be when heavily loaded.  SAGE recommended that heavily loaded circuits should have optimum phasing (already recommended by SAGE and adopted for high-voltage circuits) and balanced loads.  Any restrictions on proximity of such circuits to homes etc (rejected by the Government for high-voltage circuits) would need further investigation.

more on substations and the fields they produce

• On siting of substations, SAGE says reasonably practicable efforts should be made to site them away from homes etc, but further investigation is needed before introducing any limits on field or distance
• On the design of substations, SAGE endorses the use of compact designs for new and refurbished substations, but says that retrofiting or screening existing substations is a matter of consumer choice and cost
• For instances where substations do produce high exposures, SAGE recommends two new measures.  One is that Distribution companies should always be willing to investigate and offer the consumer options for reducing the field (at the consumer's cost).  The other is that DNOs should these instances so that EMF issues can be factored into future refurbishment decisions.

SAGE recommends more information for the public, and that DNOs should always be willing to investigate EMF issues when reported to them, and should train their staff to recognise how EMF issues can sometimes be an indication of system problems.