About Elexon, its work and its roles

Glossary

Elexon was established on 1 August 2000 to manage the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) ahead of the New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA) that went live on 27 March 2001. Since then other changes have taken place that have transformed Elexon’s role within the electricity market.

About Elexon 

Elexon is a company of over 200 members of staff and are key to the successful running of the electricity industry. We are a not-for-profit entity, funded by electricity market participants. Any funds we have left over from our budget is always returned to market participants. We are a trusted, independent and reliable market expert and we continuously look to evolve and innovate so that customers and consumers can feel the benefit.

To find out more about Elexon please visit the Elexon corporate website.

The corporate website offers information and details about:

  • how Elexon works
  • the company’s strategic goals
  • its vision and targets for the future 
  • what Elexon manages

Other information available on the the corporate website includes:

  • Governance
  • Finance
  • Working at Elexon
  • Elexon news and insights

Enquiry service

Elexon has an enquiry service called Elexon Support that enables customers to submit queries and questions that they need us to answer. The service is managed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and handles queries about BSC systems and services.

Elexon’s role managing the BSC

The Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) was introduced as part of the New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA), which came into force in England and Wales in March 2001. These arrangements, and the scope of the BSC, were subsequently extended to Scotland in April 2005 as the British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements (BETTA). 

The BSC contains the rules and governance arrangements for the Balancing Mechanism and imbalance settlement processes. Elexon oversees the strategic operation and day-to-day management of the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC). Elexon compares how much electricity generators and suppliers say they will produce or consume with actual volumes.

We work out a price for the difference and transfer funds. This involves taking 1.25 million meter readings every day. Our expertise and impartiality give our customers the confidence that the BSC operates efficiently and accurately.

Covid-19

During 2020 and 2021 Elexon made a number of changes to processes and obligations in order to support BSC Parties impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

History of the BSC

NETA and BETTA were established to:

  • Enable electricity to be traded bilaterally, and ahead of time, between willing buyers and sellers in an open and competitive wholesale market (outside the BSC)
  • Ensure that total electricity generation and demand are balanced in real time, through a Balancing Mechanism operated by National Grid as the GB Transmission System Operator
  • Establish any differences (‘imbalances’) between the amounts of electricity which are traded and the actual electricity which is generated/consumed, and ensure that these are paid for, through a post-event imbalance settlement process operated by Elexon

More about BETTA

Modification P108 proposed to authorise BSCCo to provide or procure assistance to the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority in connection with the development and implementation of the British Electricity Trading and Transmission Arrangements (BETTA).

About EMRS

During 2013 and 2014 Elexon provided expertise to the UK Government to introduce Electricity Market Reform (EMR) Contracts for Difference, and Capacity Market settlement which is carried out by Elexon’s subsidiary EMR Settlement Ltd.

EMRS is the Contract for Difference (CfD) Settlement Service Provider and it is their responsibility to run the CfD System and operate the processes that enable CfD payments to be calculated and settled.

About CMAG

The Capacity Market Advisory Group (CMAG) plays a role in developing, analysing, prioritising and making recommendations to Ofgem for changes to the Capacity Market (CM) Rules.

The CMAG comprises of impartial expert Capacity Market participant members as well as other key stakeholders such as consumer groups.

Additional services offered by Elexon

My BSC

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