Help
Print This Page
BSC Smart Metering Review
Objectives
In November 2005 the BSC Smart Metering review was initiated with the following Terms of Reference:
- To identify any changes required to the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) and Code Subsidiary Documents (CSDs) to:
- facilitate market driven smart meter and AMR rollout without introducing any undue risk to Settlement;
- enable Settlement to exploit the benefits of smart meters and AMR;
- To identify the longer term issues that an extensive rollout of smart meters and AMR could present Settlement with; and
- To highlight any changes that might be required to other industry governance documentation and products for them to be consistent and complementary with the changes to the BSC and CSDs identified.
Issue Analysis
Between November and January, ELEXON held meetings with 17 organisations including Suppliers, Data Retrievers, Data Processors, Meter Operators, a Licensed Distribution System Operator (LDSO) and Gemserv in order to identify the issues being experienced in the context of the smart metering products and AMR services being offered (issues anticipated in those products being considered).
An Expert Group was then formed, drawing on the experts identified during the fact-finding stage of the review, and with additional representation from Ofgem, energywatch and meter manufacturers. Three meetings of the Expert Group were held between February and April to develop an Issue Catalogue consolidating and classifying the issues identified during the fact-finding meetings. The Issue Catalogue was consulted on in April/May 2006 and the revised document was approved by the SVG in July 2006.
The first Smart Metering Review consultation documents and the relevant July 2006 SVG papers are available in the table below.
Requirements Analysis
The ‘Terms of Reference (TOR) for BSC Smart Metering Review Requirements Analysis Phase’ were agreed at the September meeting of the SVG. The purpose of the requirements analysis phase was to identify the BSC requirements in respect of the issues previously identified, with the expectation that these requirements would form the basis of solutions at the appropriate time. An Expert Group was created with a membership broadly similar to that in the issues analysis phase.
The SVG Papers regarding the TOR Paper and Expert Group TOR and the minutes of the meetings are available in the table below.
They considered the Issues Catalogue and developed the ‘Smart Metering and AMR – BSC Requirements’. This document was subject to an industry consultation in March/April 2007. A further meeting of the Expert Group was then held to review the consultation responses. A paper was taken to the June SVG with the updated requirements, the consultation comments in full, the Expert Group’s responses to the consultation comments and Solution Definition Phase Recommendations.
The table below contains the second consultation documentation (including requirements), the minutes of the last Expert Group meeting and the June SVG paper.
Solutions Definition Phase
At the SVG meeting on 5 June 2007, it was agreed to progress four of the ten requirements recommended for progression to the Solutions Definition Phase. The SVG requested that the other requirements be revisited following the conclusion of the current phase of the Energy Retail Association’s (ERA) Supplier Requirements for Smart Metering (SRSM) work.
The Smart Metering Expert Group met twice to consider solutions to these requirements, once on 25 July 2007 at a joint Smart Metering Expert Group and Issues Resolution Expert Group (IREG) meeting and again on 1 October 2007. The recommendations of the group were presented at the SVG meeting on 2 October 2007. At the meeting, the SVG agreed that the other six requirements should also be progressed to the Solutions Definition Phase.
Following the SVG’s decision, further meetings of the Expert Group were held to discuss solutions to the six other requirements. The meetings on 29 November 2007 and 15 February 2008 specifically discussed the requirements to ensure BSC processes did not inhibit entry to the Half Hourly market. The other requirements were discussed at meetings on 22 January and a final meeting on 30 April 2008.
The table below contains the minutes from all the expert group meetings and the relevant SVG paper:
Notify me when a document is added/updated to this table
Contact Details
If you have any queries, or require further information please contact:
Jon Spence
Market Analysis Team Leader
Telephone: 020 7381 4313
Email: jon.spence@elexon.co.uk