Who can raise a Trading Dispute?
Trading Disputes can be raised by Elexon, National Grid or any BSC Party. A BSCP11/01 form should be completed, signed by either a category A or O signatory, and sent to [email protected].
How long will the Trading Dispute take to process?
You will receive an initial response within 24 hours, acknowledging receipt of the BSCP11/01 form and confirming either that:
- a Trading Dispute has been opened
- mandatory information is missing from the form
The length of the investigation will vary, depending on the complexity of the error and amount of information provided in the BSCP11/01 form.
Once investigations are complete, you will receive a BSCP11/04 findings form confirming either that:
- the Trading Dispute is invalid and has been rejected
- the Trading Dispute has met the three validation criteria and will be taken to the next monthly Trading Disputes Committee (TDC) meeting. The TDC will determine whether or not to uphold the dispute and authorise corrective action
What are the three validation criteria?
Elexon will assess whether:
- the Trading Dispute has been raised within the applicable dispute deadlines
- the Trading Dispute constitutes a Settlement Error
- the Trading Dispute has a materiality of £3000 or more
How far back can data be corrected, through the Trading Disputes process?
The dispute deadline will vary depending on the category of Trading Dispute. The full list of deadlines can be found in BSCP11.
For the most common type of Trading Dispute – a Supplier Volume Allocation dispute – data can be corrected up to 70 working days beyond Final Reconciliation (RF) at the point the Trading Dispute is raised.
If a claim for exceptional circumstances is made (and upheld) data can be corrected up to 20 months back from the point the Trading Dispute is raised. To make a claim for exceptional circumstances, an exceptional circumstances statement needs to be submitted, along with the BSCP11/01 form.
What constitutes Exceptional Circumstances?
Exceptional circumstances are not prescribed in detail within the BSC.
However, based on previous TDC determinations, the TDC may determine that exceptional circumstances exist if any of the following apply:
- the Raising Party could not have been expected to have detected the error sooner through the information available to it
- the Raising Party or an Affected Party were affected by an error that it had no opportunity to resolve
- the Raising Party or an Affected Party had been proactive in investigating the issue prior to the Trading Dispute being raised
- the Raising Party raised the Trading Dispute at the earliest possible opportunity following the identification of a Settlement Error
- immediate action has been taken to rectify a fault leading to a Settlement Error once it was identified
- significant delays have occurred, which are outside of the control of the Raising Party or an Affected Party, causing the disputed period to miss the valid Dispute Deadline
What constitutes a Settlement Error?
A non-compliance with either the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) or Retail Energy Code (REC) must have occurred and resulted in erroneous trading charges.
Can I raise a Trading Dispute to correct errors with my DUoS/BSUoS/TNUoS invoicing or other non-energy costs?
Whilst an error in metered data may have impacted other industry charges, for the purposes of a Trading Dispute under the BSC, we can only assess the material impact on BSC trading charges.
How is materiality assessed?
Where available, Elexon will use actual half hourly system prices to determine the materiality of erroneous energy volumes. In the absence of actual system prices, we will use the Credit Assessment Price.
Where can I find half hourly system prices, to assess the materiality of a Trading Dispute?
These can be found on the Elexon Portal.
Where can I view information on the outcome of previous Trading Disputes?
You can view the outcome of previous disputes and decisions by the Trading Disputes Committee on the Register of Determinations.
