Smart Metering

Smart metering is one of the biggest challenges to face the energy industry since privatisation. As an organisation that manages wholesale electricity settlement, ELEXON has a key role to play in helping the industry meet that challenge.

Latest news

December 2011

Chris Rowell, ELEXON’s Smart programme Director spoke at the Smart Metering Forum alongside other speakers including Charles Hendry, Minister for Electricity and senior figures from the NAO, energy suppliers, DNOs and communications service providers.

Chris opened the session on Examining the Commercial Framework and shared ELEXON’s insight into how the DCC will develop, its differing activities and how the commercial framework can and should support this.

ELEXON is working in this area to help design the lowest risk, most economic solution for the industry and our experience in delivering complex solutions through outsourced Service providers to the multiparty stakeholders is unparalleled.

You can read Chris's slides here.

November 2011

ELEXON has provided a comprehensive response to DECC’s consultation on the ‘Detailed policy design and Commercial & Regulatory Framework for DCC’. Our response focuses on ensuring that DCC is set up for success and that it can effectively support existing industry processes to ensure the integrity of Settlements. We have shared our experience as experts in managing central industry rules, systems and changes through robustly managing change and contracts and engaging effectively with customers. Click here to read our response.

ELEXON’s Smart Programme Director, Chris Rowell, will be discussing the DCC at the forthcoming Smart Metering Forum. Our presentation will appear here after the conference.

At the SVG meeting on 1 November 2011, the SVG considered the interaction between the BSC Codes of Practice (CoPs) and the Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specification (SMETS). The SVG also considered the BSC requirements for early smart Metering Systems which the Supplier chooses to settle on a Half Hourly (HH) basis.
Click here to read guidance on this issue.

October 2011

ELEXON responds to four smart related consultations:

July 2011:

Our latest consultation will help identify the benefits and barriers to our customers settling energy volumes Half-Hourly as smart (or Advanced) meters are installed for customers in Profile Classes 1-4.

You can also read our press release here.

June 2011:

Read our latest thought leadership paper on Assurance in a Smart Metered World. We provide our expert views on options for an assurance framework under the new Smart Energy Code.

We recently presented at Marketforce’s Smart Metering Update conference to share our views on setting up the DataCommsCompany for success.

April 2011:

Read our response to the 2011 Ofgem Spring Package, which seeks to protect consumer interests as Suppliers start rolling out smart meters across Great Britain.

Smarter settlement – making the most of tariff innovation. In this thought piece, we explore the use of innovative tariffs for consumers, how they are dealt with in settlement and how we can build on this in a smart enabled world.

March 2011:

See the presentation we gave at March's Future of Utilities and Smart Update Conference on Settlement in a Smart World. In this presentation we examine what the immediate challenges are for settlement and how they can be managed into the future.

March 2011:

Read our press release on DECC’s response to the Smart Metering Implementation Programme Prospectus Consultation. We’re really encouraged by content of the response, particularly as several of the comments directly reflect suggestions we’ve made.

ELEXON and smart – how are we involved?

We’re fully supporting the government’s Smart Metering Implementation Programme, by working closely with DECC, Ofgem and colleagues in the industry to advise on the development of the new Smart Energy Code. We’re supporting various working groups and our technical experts are modelling business processes required in the smart arrangements.

We’re optimising the BSC for smart. Smart will bring changes to the processes we deliver and manage on behalf of the industry, so we're looking into how the BSC should flex to support those changes. One of our recent consultations looked at how smart will impact the profiling and settlement services we deliver. To see our resulting cost benefit analysis, please visit our Industry Insights page. We’re really encouraged about how engaged our customers are with this work – in particular, through our Profiling and Settlement Review Group, made up of experts from across the industry.

We’re developing our smart proposition for the energy industry. As a core provider of central market services, we believe that our skills and capabilities match those which will be required of the new DataCommsCompany. We’re engaging with a wide range of our customers and stakeholders about our aspirations in smart – if you’d like to know more please get in touch with smart@elexon.co.uk or call us on 0207 380 4166.

Smart Documents

December 2010:

Accelerating the DCC – Click here to see the presentation we gave at Marketforce's Smart Metering Update in December 2010 on bringing forward the timescales around the appointment of the DCC.

September and October 2010:

Read our response to Ofgem and DECC's Smart Metering Prospectus: Part 1 (September 2010) and Part 2 (October 2010)

June 2010:

See our thoughts on the framework of the original prospectus, which we presented at Smart Metering UK and Ireland in June 2010

May 2010:

We also responded to Ofgem's request for an Impact Assessment on the framework needed for the Data Comms Company (DCC). You can read the response on the Industry Insights page.

Past projects and consultations

Over the past 3 years we have consulted widely with the industry on the issues of smart and advanced metering. Find out more about the modifications, papers and consultations that have been issued.