Operational Practices: News

As part of our ongoing development of the Digital Code we have introduced some more enhancements that we hope will improved your experience of the service. Here’s what we’ve been working on for August.

The pre-qualification submission window for Market-wide Half Hourly Settlement (MHHS) participation has been opened today (5 February) and final submissions must be provided by 26 April 2024.  

Non-System Integration Testing (SIT) Suppliers, Supplier Agents and Meter Equipment Managers, New Entrant LDSO Programme Participants are required to provide a Pre-Qualification Submission for MHHS Qualification.

Code Bodies presented the MHHS Qualification Plan to Suppliers and Supplier Agent representatives in an extraordinary Qualification Working Group (QWG) meeting on Monday 27 November.

The Qualification Plan provided the current position for Supplier and Supplier Agent Qualification alongside the Qualification Approach & Plan (QAP) and the Qualification Assessment Document (QAD) timelines.

We have launched the new BSC Service Status Dashboard today (20 November) so that Parties can see an up to the minute view of whether there are any issues with the BSC services that we provide.

Elexon’s Metering Team recently hosted a webinar where Siemens Energy gave a presentation on a new type of technology that has the potential to be used within Settlement Metering Systems, Low Power Instrument Transformers (LPITs).

The following datasets will no longer be published on the following Elexon BSC Portal pages from Thursday 4 May 2023. This is due to the internal migration of our Settlement Administration Agent (SAA) system. However, replacement pages have been created to enable you to access the datasets.

Elexon is inviting industry participants to register their interest in joining the Network Gas Supply Emergency Settlement Validation Committee (NGSESVC). Please note that there is no immediate requirement for this committee.

Due to a global shortage of materials and disruption of global supply chains, there is a shortage of semi-conductors among other crucial components, which impacts the ability for Meter manufacturers to produce and supply electricity Meters, including those required for Settlement under the BSC.

This shortage of Settlement Meters impacts on new connections and fault resolution in both the Supplier Volume Allocation (SVA) and Central Volume Allocation (CVA) markets, and consequently impacts the integrity and accuracy of Settlement.

We have written to users of the TIBCO software service and the High Grade communications line about our intention to decommission them in March 2024.

The TIBCO software and the High Grade line supply users with near real time updates on wholesale market data from our Balancing Mechanism Reporting Service (BMRS).

We implemented the P402 Alternative Modification ‘Enabling reform of residual network charging as directed by the Targeted Charging Review’ in the February 2022 Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) Release.  

Following the approval of Balancing and Settlement Code Modification (BSC) P446 ‘Energy Price Guarantee Scheme for domestic customers’ by Ofgem, Elexon is pleased to have been appointed as Scheme Administrator.

In the past eight years, we have identified five Grid Supply Point (GSP) Metering errors, equal to around 1.4% of the total number of GSP Meters. These errors have caused energy to be recorded incorrectly. As any unaccounted energy is allocated to BSC Parties through GSP Group Correction and Transmission Losses, such metering errors can present a large impact on the allocation of energy and therefore the accuracy of Trading Charges to BSC Parties.

We are publishing a beta version of our GSP change-point detection model to gather feedback from participants and help us identify other areas where central analytics and reporting could support industry in mitigating risks to Settlement.

Yesterday (21 April) Ofgem confirmed that the Balancing and Settlement Code will be used to govern and fund the new Data Integration Platform (DIP) to support Market-wide Half Hourly Settlement (MHHS). This means that Elexon will manage the DIP service provider, which is currently being procured through the MHHS Programme.

A new interactive publication is available called Elexon Kinnect: Our cloud native digital platform explained. It explains how the three elements of Kinnect – the Customer, Settlement and Insights Solutions – work, and the benefits that each will realise.

Here you can watch a video about the Kinnect Settlement Solution that will handle our core balancing and settlement operations. Elexon Kinnect Settlement Solution forms the “engine” of our digital platform and will run our day-to-day settlement and invoicing operations. The video is introduced by Mark Bygraves, the Elexon CEO, and details of the Settlement Solution are presented by Peter Stanley the Director of Digital Operations.