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FAA Helpdesk
Logica EPFAL Limited carries out the role of the Funds Administration Agent (FAA) for the BSC arrangements. It arranges the financial Settlement of electricity traded through the balancing mechanism and any energy ‘spilled’ on or ‘taken’ from the system.
The FAA Helpdesk accepts queries relating to Credit Cover and invoices/backing sheets
sent out by the FAA. For queries relating to the calculation of these invoices,
contact the BSC Service Desk.
For BSC invoices, contact the ELEXON Helpdesk.
Telephone: 0800 316 3776
Fax: 0845 602 3688
Email: faahelpdesk@Logica.com
Hours: 09:00 - 17:30 Monday - Friday
The table below provides a guide to the resolution of queries logged with the FAA Helpdesk.
|
Type of incident |
Severity Level |
1st Call Back to caller |
Follow-up Calls to caller |
Escalation to the Customer |
|
Immediate or sustained threat to the Settlement Timetable and output from Funds
Administration Agent. |
1 |
10 Minutes |
Every 20 Minutes |
1 Hour |
|
Potential impact on Settlement Timetable or major problems for BSC Service Users
with reports. |
2 |
10 Minutes |
Every Hour |
4 Working Hours |
|
Severe impact on the accuracy of Settlement data. |
3 |
30 Minutes |
Every 2 Hours |
8 Working Hours |
|
Minor data error |
4 |
4 Hours |
Every 8 Hours |
2 Working Days |
|
General Enquiries |
5 |
24 Hours |
Every 24 Hours |
7 Elapsed Days |
The role of the FAA
Daily Payments
The FAA receives data from the Settlement Administration Agent (SAA) containing Settlement results for the relevant
Settlement Days as set out in the Payment Calendar (the payment calendar is used in the SAA calendar). It uses this
data to arrange electronic payments to and from BSC Parties. The FAA issues Advice Notes, Backing Sheets and Confirmation
Notices to BSC Parties notifying them of amounts of money either due or owed for electricity bought and sold in the
balancing market. BSC Parties make their payments on business days in accordance to dates specified on the Payment Calendar.
Payment Times
The FAA transfers funds from the Clearing Account to the relevant Settlement Accounts at 15:30. All BSC Parties must ensure that all payments are paid into the relevant Collection Account by 15:00 on the designated payment date. The FAA will check that all expected amounts have been credited to the relevant Collection Accounts before transferring funds to the Clearing Account.
Non-payment
When a BSC Party becomes aware that they cannot make a payment by 15.30 on the relevant payment day they must immediately notify the FAA of the reason. Depending on the reason given, the FAA will:
- draw on the Borrowing Account facility to cover the amount;
- draw on their Letter of Credit or Cash Deposit to cover the amount and notify ELEXON and the non-paying Debtor; or
- reduce payments to BSC Creditors by scaling-down to cover the amount.
The FAA also administers the credit arrangements for BSC Parties. If you have any queries about credit arrangements or the payment process please contact the FAA.
Lodging Credit Cover
New BSC Trading Parties, lodging Credit Cover for the first time can set their own level of Credit Cover, which then becomes their ‘Energy Credit Cover’ (ECC). Existing Trading Parties can lodge additional Credit Cover at any time. To reduce their level of cover they must go through the ‘Minimum Eligible Amount’ process (MEA) - see below for details. When Trading Parties are lodging Credit Cover, please contact the FAA to let them know, so that limits can be marked as quickly as possible.
Credit Cover can be in cash or Letter of Credit. If Cash is lodged it is pooled together with all other cash cover held by the FAA and earns interest, which is paid back to BSC Trading Parties quarterly. The pooling of cash deposits enables a better rate of interest than if amounts were held in individual accounts for each Trading Party.
Letters of Credit must be worded in accordance with the example in 
Annex M-1 of the BSC(223Kb)
and documents must be
presentable at a London branch of the issuing bank. Any variation from the standard wording is rejected by the
FAA and can delay the process.
Energy Credit Cover
ECC is the limit, in Megawatt hours (MWh), applied to each Trading Party. As lodged Credit Cover has a monetary value it must be converted into MWh. The FAA does this using the Credit Assessment Price (CAP) and then notifies the Energy Credit Volume Aggregation Agent (ECVAA). CAP is set by the Credit Committee after consultation with the industry and is in pounds sterling per MWh.
The FAA notifies changes to ECC to the ECVAA using an electronic feed. Increases in Credit Cover received by the FAA before 15:00, must be notified to the ECVAA by close of business the same day. The FAA will try to process amendments received after this time, the same day, where possible. Changes to the ECC then take place at the start of the next half hourly period after notification.
Reducing Credit Cover
Trading Parties wishing to reduce the amount of Credit Cover they have lodged with the FAA must go through the Minimum Eligible Amount Process. Full details of the MEA process are in Section M 2-3 of the BSC(223Kb)
. For most Trading Parties this procedure involves completing and sending an MEA Request Form to the ECVAA. After 10 days the Trading Party and the FAA receive notification of the MEA, which quotes a MWh value. This amount, when converted into a monetary value using CAP, is the lowest level of Credit Cover that must be lodged with the FAA to prevent Credit Default. A Trading Party can choose to lodge a higher level of cover.
Once the MEA result is received, the Trading Party has two working days to contact the FAA and tell them what level of Credit Cover they want to lodge . If the FAA doesn’t receive anything within two days, the MEA result becomes invalid and any request to return any excess Credit Cover will be rejected. The MEA process will need to be undertaken again if a reduction is still required.
If a request to return excess Credit Cover is received within two working days and a refund of cash is required, if the request is received before 15:00, the refund will be made the same day. If a reduction in a Letter of Credit is required, this will be actioned on the day of receipt of the amendment/new Letter of Credit, providing it is received before 15:00.