BM Unit Transfers

How do I transfer ownership of BM Units?

If you decide to change the ownership of a Primary BM Unit, you will either follow the Change of Primary BM Unit Lead Party (CoPBLP) process for a Central Volume Allocation (CVA) BM Unit, or a Transfer of Supplier ID for Supplier Volume Allocation (SVA) BM Units. These generally require a 30 Working Day lead time, but it won’t take as long if there aren’t any issues.

Change of Primary BM Unit Lead Party

This process transfers a CVA Primary BM Unit from one Party to another. All the other details with the Primary BM Unit, such as parameters (e.g. GC/DC and CALF values), Metering Technical Details (MTDs), Aggregation Rules and Metering Dispensations, are transferred across to the new Party unchanged. However, any Metered Volume Reallocation Notifications (MVRNs) will be end-dated with the transfer, so the new Party will need to set these up again, if they wish.

Transfer of Supplier ID

This process transfers a Supplier ID from one Supplier to another. Each Supplier ID will have 14 Base  Primary BM Units attached to it, and possibly some Additional Primary BM Units. All of these are transferred across as part of this process. If a Party transfers their last Supplier ID, then they will also need to deregister their Supplier ID.

The two processes are described in BSCP15 ‘BM Unit Registration’, which covers the procedures and timescales for transferring Primary BM Units.

For a CoPBLP, the current Lead Party needs to submit form BSCP15/4.11A, while the new Lead Party needs to submit form BSCP15/4.11B. For a Transfer of Supplier ID, the current Lead Party needs to submit form BSCP15/4.6A, while the new Lead Party needs to submit form BSCP15/4.6B.

Parties eligible for CoPBLP in 5 Working Days

New or gaining Parties can undertake a CoPBLP for a Directly Connected Customer Premises Primary BM Unit within 5 Working Days if they meet the following conditions:

• has acceded to the BSC and completed Party registration in the role of Supplier;
• has attained qualification as a Supplier and qualification in metering scripts (for CVA Metering);
• has appropriate registration on the National Electricity Transmission System Operator’s (NETSO’s) Systems and use of a qualified Trading Agent and Trading Point;
• has ensured that the Primary BM Unit is not associated with a Trading Unit except a Sole Trading Unit; and
• has submitted the de-registration form and registration forms from the respective Suppliers with consecutive Effective To and From dates (to demonstrate that the outgoing and incoming Supplier are aware of the change of ownership and agree with it).

The table below lists Suppliers which have satisfied the criteria to complete a change of Primary BM Unit Lead Party within 5 Working Days for a Primary BM Unit with CVA Metering and associated with a Customer Premises (the normal timescales are 30 Working Days), and who have made application to be included on the published list of such Suppliers.

If you would like to be included on the published list as a Supplier that can meet the criteria to change the Primary BM Unit Lead Party within 5 Working Days then please complete the form BSCP15/4.10 Part A.