Underperforming BSC parties to be named and shamed

Elexon is proposing to name and shame Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) parties which fail to meet their obligations in a bid to improve their performance.

The administrator of the BSC has announced that a new code modification (P427) went live on Thursday (23 February) which, subject to approval by the BSC Panel next month, will allow it to publish league tables charting settlement performance.

BSC parties include suppliers, generators, network operators and interconnectors and they are all required to meet various settlement performance criteria.

The criteria includes, for example:

• Suppliers have to settle 97% of their total non-half hourly metered energy on actual readings (rather than estimates) by the final reconciliation run (RF)
• Suppliers have to settle 99% of their total half hourly metered energy on actual readings by RF

The settlement run is 14 months after any given settlement period as suppliers have to submit manual meter readings for non-smart meters, but this will reduce to four months when the smart meter roll out is complete and Market Wide Half Hourly Settlement (MHHS) is introduced.

Outlining its reasons for introducing P427, Elexon said that currently when performance issues are identified through its Performance Assurance Framework and the Performance Assurance Board determines that the Error and Failure Resolution (EFR) process should be applied, parties work with the code administrator to agree what steps they will take to resolve the issues.

“It often takes longer than expected to resolve these issues, with many EFR plans remaining open for over a year, and the longer this takes, the longer there is a material impact on settlement accuracy,” it added.

A spokesperson further explained that once a supplier is in EFR, milestones are agreed in order to improve its performance over a defined period. In some cases, the supplier does not meet these milestones that have been set.

If the proposal to publish the league tables is approved by the BSC panel next month, suppliers will be sent their own data to check in April and the league tables will be published monthly from May.

Elexon’s chief executive, Simon McCalla, said: “As a trusted provider of data, Elexon recognises the crucial role that transparency plays in an open market.

“This modification allows for increased transparency which will help us to celebrate the excellent work that many of our parties are doing, while also delivering service excellence and customer value, which are key pillars of Elexon’s new strategy.”