P379 ‘Multiple Suppliers through Meter Splitting’
Formal title: Enabling consumers to buy and sell electricity from/to multiple providers through Meter Splitting
This Modification will enable consumers to be supplied by multiple Suppliers through Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) Settlement Meters at the Boundary Point. P379 will allow multiple Suppliers to compete for the supply or export of electricity through a single Meter without needing to establish an agreement between all of the Suppliers involved for every instance.
P379 aims to address a significant barrier to competition in the market rules whereby multiple Suppliers are unable to compete for behind-the-meter energy volumes, measured via the same boundary Metering System. Whilst the existing SVA Shared Metering Arrangements do facilitate splitting of boundary Metered volumes between different Suppliers, these arrangements are restrictive, for example they require agreements in advance between the Suppliers. The Proposer believes that the existing arrangements don’t adequately facilitate the development of local energy markets and supply innovation, and effectively mean there is a monopoly of one Party, the ‘default’ or ‘Primary’ Supplier, over a consumer’s energy volumes behind a Settlement Meter at any given time, restricting competition and innovation.
Modification Withdrawal
On Wednesday 10 March 2021, P379 was officially closed following a five Business Day period where the withdrawn Modification Proposal remained open to be adopted. No requests to adopt were received and the Modification was officially closed when the time lapsed.
Even though the Proposer believed allowing multiple Suppliers can provide additional benefits, the cost of implementing this Modification is much higher than expected.
They believe some of the desired outcomes are already covered under BSC Modifications P375 ‘Metering behind the Boundary Point’, P376 ‘Utilising a Baselining Methodology to set Physical Notifications’ and P415 ‘Facilitating access to wholesale markets for flexibility dispatched by Virtual Lead Parties’, and hence given the very high cost of implementing P379, the added value cannot be justified.
Cost-benefit Analysis
The Cost Benefit Analysis conducted by CEPA on behalf of Elexon and the BSC Panel is published in the Assessment Procedure section below. A summary of the report can be found in the slides presented by CEPA to the BSC Panel in February 2021, published in the Assessment Procedure area of this webpage.
Downloading documents
If you have any problems or issues downloading or accessing any of the supporting documents on this page then please contact the highlighted Lead Analyst.