Consultation on access to half-hourly electricity data for settlement purposes
Consultation
- Upcoming
- Open
- Closed (awaiting decision)
- Closed (with decision)
- Publication date
- Closing date
- Industry sector
- Supply and Retail Market
- Decision
Market-wide settlement reform can expose energy suppliers to the true cost of supply of their customers in any half-hour period and put incentives on them to help their customers shift their consumption to times when electricity is cheaper to generate or transport. We are taking forward market-wide settlement reform to facilitate a smarter, more flexible energy system and to empower consumers to take an active role in the energy system transition as the sector decarbonises.
In order to settle customers half-hourly, suppliers need access to their customers’ half-hourly consumption data from their smart meter. Under the current rules, domestic consumers’ half-hourly data can only be accessed for settlement if they have given opt-in consent, and suppliers can only access half-hourly data from microbusinesses for settlement if they have not opted-out. We are seeking your views on the future of these rules, to strike the right balance between realising the benefits of settlement reform while ensuring that consumers’ privacy is appropriately safeguarded.
This consultation sets out the options we are considering and our preliminary assessment of each. We are seeking views on these options and also on a number of more specific questions, which are discussed in the consultation document. We are seeking responses from a broad range of stakeholders, including consumer groups, suppliers, supplier agents and innovators.
Alongside the consultation document we have published a Data Protection Impact Assessment and a report that we commissioned Baringa Partners to produce, in which Baringa have assessed and developed strawmen models for our two enhanced privacy options.
This consultation is open for 8 weeks, until 03/09/2018. Responses should be sent to half-hourlysettlement@ofgem.gov.uk and clearly marked where considered to be confidential.