Glossary

P415 ‘Facilitating access to wholesale markets for flexibility dispatched by Virtual Lead Parties’

Formal title: Facilitating access to wholesale markets for flexibility dispatched by Virtual Lead Parties

P415 seeks to amend the BSC to allow Virtual Lead Parties (VLPs) to participate in the GB wholesale market. 

Customers (consumers of electricity) who are able to be flexible about their consumption cannot currently obtain any value from that flexibility from the Wholesale Energy Market, except if they work with their Supplier to do so. This is because the BSC assigns all flexibility delivered by a customer to their Supplier, with the exception of flexibility instructed by National Grid in the Balancing Mechanism or Replacement Reserve market (TERRE), which can be assigned to a third party (referred to in the BSC as a “Virtual Lead Party”).

As a result, customers can only access power exchanges (and other markets that require notification of contracts under the BSC) though their Supplier. This contrasts with Balancing Services, the Balancing Mechanism, and the Capacity Market, all of which allow a customer’s flexibility to be offered by an aggregator without the involvement of the Supplier.

Current Status

Submission
Assessment Procedure
Report Phase
With Authority
Awaiting Implementation
Implemented

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