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Operation of the Balancing and Settlement Arrangements
Central Services Performance
100% Availability
Excluding planned outages, the following parts of the BSC Central Services gave
100% availability throughout the three-month period:
- Balancing Mechanism Reporting Agent (BMRA);
- Central Data Collection Agent (CDCA);
- Central Registration Agent (CRA);
- Settlement Administration Agent (SAA);
- Supplier Volume Allocation Agent (SVAA); and
- Funds Administration Agent (FAA).
The Energy Contract Volume Aggregation Agent (ECVAA) experienced availability issues
in January and performance issues in March.
BSC Central Services Incidents
The BSC Central Services Agent experienced fewer issues this Quarter than in the
previous three months. Errors caused by external events were due to late data from
the Market Index Data Provider (MIDP) and incomplete and delayed data from National
Grid. We worked with the MIDP, which provides data used to calculate the Reverse
Imbalance Price, and National Grid to use the correct data when available. Details
of these and the other incidents affecting the BSC Central Services Agent are in
the Trading Operations Report.
Issues following the November 2009 Release resolved
Last quarter we reported that three web pages on the High Grade BMRS website were
not automatically updating after the November 2009 Release went live. We have now
applied an enduring fix to address this.
A National Grid unplanned outage in November 2009 also highlighted an issue with
one of the Settlement Administration Agent (SAA) reports. We have now fixed the
issue, which was due to a defect in the November 2009 Release.
Performance of each Supplier Meter Registration Service (SMRS) and Master Registration
Agreement (MRA) arrangements
The SMRSs experienced no performance issues during this Quarter.
In January, changes were agreed to the SMRS validation rules to better enable Suppliers
to meet their BSC obligations in registering Unmetered Supplies. These changes support
Change Proposal 1267 ‘Registration of Unmetered Supplies Operators and Meter Administrators in SMRS’ (39Kb)
and will come into effect in November 2010.
Erroneously Large EAC/AA Process Review
In the autumn we initiated a review of the Erroneous Large EAC (Estimated Annual
Consumption)/AA (Annualised Advance) monthly process.
We had a good response to our questionnaire for Suppliers and Non-Half-Hourly Data
Collectors. The consultation responses have helped us to determine potential changes
to the processes and systems to progress.
The Credit Assessment Price (CAP) review process
CAP is used in assessing the adequacy of BSC Parties’ credit and is intended to
reflect expected future System Buy Price. On behalf of the Credit Committee, we
presented our finding that the CAP review process had worked well to the March Panel
meeting. The Panel noted that no immediate changes to the process were needed.
There was one change to the value of CAP during the Quarter when it was reduced
from £49/MWh to £38/MWh, which was effective from 12 January 2010.
Charging for use of the Participant Test Service and Cancellations
The Participant Test System gives Parties a dummy version of the live central systems
environment for their own business testing. The Panel has agreed we should now pass
on the full cost to Parties who use this service. We have also introduced a policy
for Parties to reflect the cancellation charges we pay to Logica.
Responding to external developments: implicit auctions on interconnectors
New interconnector operators must provide an implicit auction service across multiple
energy markets. We have been considering how to handle this requirement under the
BSC arrangements, and have discussed implicit auctions and market coupling principles
in general with the operators of BritNed, the new UK–Netherlands interconnector.
Improving the Trading Operations Report
We’ve redesigned our Trading Operations
Report to make it easier to use and provide more targeted, relevant information.
Monitoring the impact of P217
In November the BSC Panel requested that ELEXON reports regularly on how Modification
P217 has impacted the main imbalance price. We began regular monitoring in January
2010 and will publish results in the
Trading Operations Report.
Supporting developments in Unmetered Supplies
Local authorities are showing increasing interest in street lighting that saves
energy by dimming or switching on and off overnight. The Multi-Level Static Dimming
Unmetered Supplies Group is a new group that will develop ways to settle these new
types of unmetered supplies. It met for the first time this Quarter and reports
to the SVG.
BSC Service Desk feedback
In February, we launched an automatic feedback survey with Logica, our BSC Service
Desk provider. Each time you contact our BSC Service Desk you can give feedback
that will help us to improve our service to you.
Funds Administration Agent to carry out Payment Default Process
We continue look at how we can outsource or decommission processes where we don’t
add value. At the end of March, we handed over the entire Payment Default process
to the Funds Administration Agent (FAA).