In 2017, one of the biggest changes to the way that UK electricity was settled since the development of the electricity pool to the way that UK electricity was settled was introduced, in the form of the implementation of Modification P272.
Over 5 years in the making (having been first introduced as a Modification in 2011), P272 moved larger B2B electricity meters in Profile class 5-8 to half hourly settlement, the first significant step towards the Mandatory Half Hourly Settlement programme we see today.
It also signalled a significant change in the way that traditional Half Hourly data was handled, meaning that businesses with B2B portfolios had to take steps to go through the Change of Measurement class process to move meters from Monthly Register reads to Half Hourly interval data, massively increasing the volume of meter data they had to handle.
Greater granularity of settlement data passing through the settlement system would lead to great accuracy in customer billing, an important measure for delivering the service that Ofgem expects of energy retailers. Getting it wrong could lead to significant regulatory attention or even fines – and suppliers are also ranked on their settlement accuracy scores, meaning settlement performance couldn’t slip through the migration process.
As the metering data experts, IMServ were perfectly placed to support customers through the often-complex requirements of preparing for the new half hourly P272 world. Our specialist industry team offered training for the metering and settlement teams within Opus Energy as well as carrying out key activities to ensure all the right meters migrated correctly.
The migration itself involved ensuring we held all the correct site information for all meters, including the contact details for the user, as well as making sure all sites were dialling correctly. This was critical as any broken or non-dialling meters couldn’t be migrated so the team had to identify issues and carry out fixes both remotely and via site visits to make sure all meters could migrate within the required timeframe.
IMServ also had to deliver the change of Measurement Class required as part of P272. This meant de-appointing the site in the Non Half-Hourly market and reappointing it into the new Half Hourly market, making sure that the meter has the right configuration and handling all the technical requirements of a complex change of meter details. In most cases this could be performed remotely, but some sites required a site visit to manual adjust the data.
With interoperability providing such a challenge to the market, we spent a great deal of time engaging with other Agents, Suppliers and End Users to ensure a successful migration for our customers.
Andy Nash, Operations Director at Opus Energy, said “IMServ’s support and knowledge of the process, alongside their industry expertise has helped so much. We are delighted that IMServ is helping maintain our P272 project plan requirements for Ofgem. There have been challenges as the window to meet the deadline for the change of measurement class has been tight, and we really appreciate the way that IMServ has been able to take sites on at short notice and support us with the changes – enabling us to continue to meet our project plan and obligations.”