The BSC Panel
The Balance and Settlement Code (BSC) Panel oversees the management, implementation and development of the BSC. It brings together stakeholders from across the electricity industry, including Ofgem, National Grid, BSC Parties and consumer representatives, focused on ensuring that the BSC is delivered efficiently, economically, effectively, fairly and transparently.
The Panel oversees changes to the BSC and approves the strategy element of ELEXON’s annual Business Plan. To support this process, the BSC Panel has identified its strategic priorities in a Panel Strategy and incorporated a Strategic Work Programme that addresses these priorities though 2015/16 and beyond. Both the Strategy and Work Programme feeds directly into the development of the annual BSCCo business plan and will inform the work of the Panel, its Committees and ELEXON going forward.
Find out more about the Panel’s functions and membership.
Panel committees
There are six committees made up of industry experts established by the Panel to oversee specific areas of BSC activity.
- Credit Committee (CC)
- Imbalance Settlement Group (ISG)
- Performance Assurance Board (PAB)
- Q8
- Supplier Volume Allocation Group (SVG)
- Trading Disputes Committee (TDC)
ELEXON Governance Review
In April 2013, the BSC Panel and Board jointly commissioned Bill Knight to carry out an independent review of ELEXON’s governance. The report was published in July 2013. It identified some problems that arise from the current arrangements and proposed recommendations for change to address these problems.
In October 2013, Ofgem issued an open letter setting out its initial views on the review’s findings. Ofgem urged the BSC Panel and ELEXON Board to work with industry to develop options to address the issues raised. In November 2013, the new ELEXON Board started to consider the Knight Report, its conclusions and recommendations and consequently it wishes to engage with the Panel and wider industry with a view to moving collectively towards a revised governance model that addresses the problems highlighted by the Knight Report.
Open letter to BSC Parties
On 7 July Michael Gibbons wrote to BSC Parties setting out the ELEXON Board’s views on ELEXON’s current governance arrangements. These views are the result of the Board’s consideration of the Knight Report (and independent review of ELEXON’s governance arrangements, jointly commissioned by the ELEXON Board and BSC Panel). The letter identifies some basic principles that any new governance model should take into account, and sets out the Board’s desire to seek the views of BSC Parties to feed into a solution which would form the starting point for a Modification to the Code.
Meeting notes: Joint Board and Panel workshop – 28 July
On 28 July 2014, the ELEXON Board and BSC Panel took part in a workshop in order to discuss ELEXON’s governance arrangements and to develop options to address the short fallings of the current governance arrangements. These notes summarise the discussions that took place.
Potential BSC Party voting mechanisms
On 28 July, members of the BSC Panel and ELEXON Board took part in a workshop to discuss ELEXON’s governance and the possibility of moving towards a new governance model. At the workshop, attendees agreed that the accountability of ELEXON to funders or industry is key and that an appropriate way of achieving this would be via voting rights akin to those afforded to shareholders of companies. This paper provides options for alternative BSC Party voting mechanisms with commentary on how well each could ensure the independence and non-capturability of ELEXON.
Straw man governance proposal
A straw man governance proposal, suggesting changes to ELEXON’s current governance arrangements, has been drawn up following bilateral meetings with members of the BSC Panel, funding Parties and a joint Panel/ Board workshop. This straw man represents the broad consensus that emerged at the Panel/ Board workshop. Unless there are good reasons not to, or the BSC prevents it, the UK corporate governance code has been considered as an appropriate model to follow.
