Performance Assurance Reports

 Performance Assurance Framework Key Performance Indicators

At the request of the PAB, ELEXON has developed a number of KPIs covering three key areas:

• The Performance Assurance Board (PAB) (KPIs covering the running of the PAB);
• The Performance Assurance Techniques (PATs) (KPIs covering the deployment and impact of the PATs); and
• Performance Assurance Framework Projects (KPIs covering the progress and impact of PAF related projects).

The PAB receives a monthly update on performance against these KPIs.

At the request of the PAB we provide below a quarterly summary of performance over the past quarter.

BSC Audit Reports

Annual BSC Audit Report

The BSC Audit Report is produced by the BSC Auditor. It highlights the key market issues that have high levels of error or risk associated with them and which had the greatest impact on the BSC Audit Opinion for the period.

The Statement of Significant Matters (SSM) sits behind the BSC Audit Report. The SSM should be read in conjunction with the BSC Auditor’s Report as it contains details of those issues that are judged as not being sufficiently material to warrant inclusion in the BSC Auditor’s Report but which, nevertheless, the BSC Auditor believes appropriate to bring to the attention of the recipients of the BSC Auditor’s Report.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, as the BSC Auditor, has completed the Report for the audit of the calculations and allocations performed in relation to Settlement from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011. A summary of the Auditor's findings for the 2010/11 Audit Year is as follows:

The BSC Audit

The error identified by the BSC Auditor remains below the materiality threshold of 1.65TWh; the Audit Opinion is not qualified for the sixth year running.

As detailed in the Statement of significant matters, the volume associated with erroneous values of Estimated Annual Consumption (EACs) and Annualised Advances (AAs) continues to fall, due to the increased focus on this issue. Overall Settlement Performance in the Non Half Hourly market has improved during the year with a majority of Suppliers achieving the 97% target of actual metered data at the Final Reconciliation Run (RF). However data quality issues in the Non Half Hourly market remain, reflected by the number of exceptions reported and data processing backlogs.

The issues in the Statement include:

• The need for robust Meter Operation processes in light of advances in technology at the introduction of Smart Metering;
• Improvements in Half Hourly Meter Operator activities;
• Non Half Hourly Meter Operators challenges in consistently meeting BSC Requirements; and
• The issue concerning errors in the classification of complex metering in the Half Hourly market is no longer significantly material to report on.

Please read the notice below before viewing the BSC Auditor’s Report, available from the table below.

Notice re: BSC Auditor’s Report for the year ended 31 March 2011
 
This notice concerns the BSC Auditor’s Report for the year ended 31 March 2011 dated 9 June 2011 (the "Report").
 
This notice does not apply to any BSC Trading Parties, ELEXON Limited (“ELEXON”), the Transmission Company (including the employees of the foregoing acting within the scope of their employment duties) or the BSC Panel.
 
The Balancing and Settlement Code (“BSC”) obliges ELEXON to post a copy of the Report on the BSC Website. The Report was prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (the limited liability partnership registered in England under registration no. OC303525 and with its registered address at 1 Embankment Place, London WC2N 6RH, United Kingdom) ("PwC").
 
PwC require that, in order for the Report to be made available to you, (on your personal behalf and, if you are accessing this Report on behalf of your employer in the scope of your employment duties, on your employer's behalf) you acknowledge that you and, if appropriate, your employer (together, "You") enjoy such receipt for information purposes only and accept the following terms:
1.The Report was prepared by PwC on the instructions of ELEXON and with only the interests of Trading Parties, the Transmission Company, the BSC Panel and ELEXON in mind; this Report was not planned in contemplation of use by You. The Report cannot in any way serve as a substitute for any enquiries and procedures which You will or should be undertaking for the purposes of satisfying yourselves regarding any issue.
2.No work has been carried out nor have any enquiries of ELEXON’s management been made since 10 June 2011. The Report does not incorporate the effects, if any, of any events or circumstances which may have occurred or information which may have come to light subsequent to that date. PwC makes no representation as to whether, had PwC carried out such work or made such enquiries, there would have been any material effect on the Report. Further, PwC has no obligation to notify You if any matters come to its attention which might affect the continuing validity of the comments or conclusions in the Report.
3.You acknowledge that PwC, its members, partners, employees and agents neither owe nor accept any duty or responsibility to You, whether in contract or in tort (including without limitation, negligence and breach of statutory duty) or howsoever otherwise arising, and shall not be liable in respect of any loss, damage or expense of whatsoever nature which is caused by any use You may choose to make of the Report, or which is otherwise consequent upon the provision of the Report to You.
4.PwC is not authorised to give explanations in relation to the Report. However, should any PwC member, partner, employee or agent provide You with any explanations or further information, You acknowledge that they are given subject to the same terms as those specified in this notice in relation to the Report.
5.The Report, or information obtained from it, must not be made available or copied, in whole or in part to any other person without PwC's prior written permission which PwC may, at its discretion, grant, withhold or grant subject to conditions (including conditions as to legal responsibility or absence thereof).
6.Without conferring any greater rights than You would otherwise have at law, it is accepted that this notice does not exclude any liability which any party may have for death or personal injury or for the consequences of its own fraud.
7.Unless otherwise stated, all terms and expressions used in this notice shall have the same meaning attributed to them in the BSC.
8.This notice shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of England. The courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any claim, dispute or difference which may arise out of or in connection with this notice.
Funding Shares Audit Reports

The Funding Shares Audit forms part of the BSC Audit. Findings from the Funding Shares Audit are published separately.

Market Issue Documents

Market Issue documents detail matters raised by the Auditor for the industry’s attention. They capture widespread concerns which affect all organisations operating in a certain role.

The following are non-confidential versions of the Market Issues.

Materiality Report

The BSC Auditor produces a Materiality Report to explain how it determines the materiality of the key issues in the Annual Report. It also covers the distribution of these errors across Settlement. In 2009/10 a number of the key issues previously reported have improved to the extent that they are no longer in the Statement of significant matters. Therefore no Materiality Report has been produced.

TAA Annual Report – Half Hourly Metering Systems

The TAA Annual Report provides the Technical Assurance Agent’s view on the health of the Half Hourly metering population in the SVA and CVA markets. It’s based on the findings from the inspections of Technical Assurance of Metering Systems and is used to highlight key market issues, particularly those with high potential materiality or risk to the quality of data used in Settlement.

The Technical Assurance of Metering

The TAA’s report is divided into two parts:

• Non-compliance statistics report; and 
• Commentary on the statistics including significant issues and recommendations.

Key messages in the TAA report this year include:

• No access to SVA sites increased again this year from 7% to 12% after an improvement last year.
• No access to CVA sites remains constant at 2%.
• There was no change to the high level (77%) of non-compliances relating to missing/inaccurate/incomplete metering certificates, as in previous years.
• Commissioning certificate issues were found in 27% of SVA site visits conducted during 2010/11. This is consistent with previous years.
• Accuracy of Meter Technical Details (MTD) contributes to 60% (37 issues) of category 1 non-compliances compared to 83% (119 issues) in 2009/10. As last year, there remains an indication that MTDs received by the TAA from Half Hourly Data Collectors are not necessarily those that are used in their day to day operations.
• Resolution of SVA Cat1 non-compliances takes an average of 28 working days compared to 24 working days during 2009/10.
• The practice of pre-audit visits and meter exchanges is still happening, and is skewing the inspection findings.
• From the TAA visit sample there was 11 SVA non-compliances which have the capacity to impact Settlements to the value of 2.8GWh. Compared with 11.5GWh in 2009/10.

If you have had more than 25 TAA inspections during the 2010-2011 audit period, you will receive your individual annual customer reports.

We also produce individual confidential reports for Registrants (of Metering Systems) and Meter Operator Agents who receive 25 or more visits during the year.

Technical Assurance of Performance Assurance Parties Reports

After some types of Technical Assurance (TA) check we produce a non-confidential outcome report that is presented to the PAB.  Here are the outcome reports from recent TA checks.