Issue 72

Several issues have been identified in the Commissioning process where Measurement Transformers installed by a non-BSC Party are not owned by the Licensed Distribution System Operator (LDSO). This results in the Meter Operator Agent (MOA) being required to complete the full Commissioning testing, which may not be practical or possible in the case of high voltage (HV) and extra high voltage (EHV) connections. The issues noted are:

• there is misalignment between the Commissioning of non-BSC Party owned measurement transformers process as outlined in Code of Practice 4 (CoP4) and certain industry operational processes. Where a measurement transformer is not commissioned by a MOA but rather the Commissioning is completed by a non-BSC Party (for example an Independent Connections Provider (ICP)), the MOA procures the Commissioning and Calibration records; either from the non-BSC Party or the LDSO on adoption. There is currently no BSC established procedure regarding this process and as such there are no clear requirements on the procurement of Commissioning and Calibration records from non-BSC Parties;

• in the majority of cases, the MOA does not possess the correct level of safety authorisation to complete Commissioning on HV or EHV connections. There does not appear to be an industry approach for MOAs being trained by LDSOs and subsequently holding the correct level of authorisation; and

• although it is the Registrant’s responsibility to authorise the Metering System energisation, in some cases new connections have been found to be energised before the meter has been installed.

These aforementioned issues are hindering this end-to-end Commissioning process and we believe need discussing to ensure the integrity of Settlement through the Commissioning process.

Further information can be found in the Issue 72 Proposal Form below.

Issue 72 was raised by SSE Ltd on 11 September 2018. The first Issue Group was held on Tuesday 16 October 2018, with the agenda and slide pack from the meeting available to download below. The second meeting was held on Thursday 24 January 2019. The 3rd meeting took place on April 2 2019.