MRA Guideline for the Supplier of Last
Resort Procedure
GD19
Version : 2.0
Status : Final
Date : 27 July 2007
Document Reference : GD19_2.0
2007 MRA Service Company Limited, 10 Fenchurch Street, London, EC3M 3BE. All
rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any material
form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium, by electronic means and whether or
not transiently or incidentally to some other use or publication) without the permission of MRA
Service Company Limited, whose address is set out above.
MRA Guideline for the Supplier of Last Resort Procedure GD19
CONTENTS
1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
2.
3
PURPOSE
USE OF THIS GUIDELINE
STRUCTURE OF THIS DOCUMENT
BACKGROUND
ASSUMPTIONS
HALF HOURLY REGISTRATIONS
ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS
REFERENCES
3
3
3
3
5
6
6
7
NORMAL REGISTRATION PROCESSING
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
8
OVERVIEW
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
CONSTRAINTS ON THIS PROCESS
SUMMARY OF ISSUES
8
8
9
12
3.
AGREEMENT BETWEEN SOLR AND DEFAULTING SUPPLIER’S DATA
COLLECTOR
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
OVERVIEW
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
CONSTRAINTS ON THE PROCESS
SUMMARY OF ISSUES
13
13
13
14
15
ANNEX A – DIAGRAMS SHOWING NORMAL REGISTRATION PROCESSING
16
ANNEX B – DIAGRAMS SHOWING USE OF THE DEFAULTING SUPPLIER’S DATA
COLLECTOR TO PROCESS THE APPOINTMENT READING
22
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1.
Introduction
1.1
Purpose
This guideline describes the process(es) that may be adopted by a Supplier
of Last Resort (SoLR) in order to complete its registrations for the Metering
Points to which it has been appointed.
The purpose of this guideline is to identify the existing obligations on
Suppliers (and where appropriate, other participant roles) that must be
complied with whilst registering for Metering Points that are subject to a Last
Resort Supply Direction. In doing so, this document will identify a number of
issues that a SoLR must consider during this process and, where appropriate,
suggest different courses of action to overcome those issues. This guideline
does not place any obligations on parties over and above those obligations
placed on them by the Master Registration Agreement (MRA) or other Core
Industry Documents.
1.2
Use of this Guideline
In fulfilling its purpose, this document summarises a number of the obligations
contained within the MRA and other Core Industry Documents. This guideline
does not constitute a contractual requirement and in all cases, the obligations
as contained within the MRA and other Core Industry Documents take
precedence over this document.
Whilst the MRA Service Company Limited (MRASCo) shall endeavour to
maintain the accuracy and completeness of this guideline, MRASCo accept
no responsibility or liability as to or in relation to the accuracy or
completeness of the information contained within this guideline. The
information provided in this document acts as a guide only; it is the
responsibility of MRA parties to adopt suitable processes and procedures to
ensure compliance to existing obligations.
1.3
Structure of this Document
Section 2 of this guideline describes the transfer of registrations to the SoLR
using normal registration processing; this section also considers the
timescales that apply to this process and some of the considerations
regarding the change of Supplier meter reading. Section 3 then considers
how the process would be modified if the SoLR and the agents of the
Defaulting Supplier reach an agreement so that any readings taken prior to
the SoLR SSD are processed into Settlement.
1.4
Background
Ofgem can, in circumstances such as the appointment of a receiver, an
administration order being made or a High Court winding up order being
made, revoke the licence of an electricity Supplier. Ofgem may revoke the
licence in such circumstances with a minimum of 24 hours’ notice.
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Not every Supplier failure will require regulatory intervention – the business
assets of a Defaulting Supplier, including its customer portfolio, may be sold
in a trade sale. However Ofgem will take all reasonable steps to secure the
continuity of supply for all customers and where a trade sale has not been
possible, such action may include revocation of licence and appointment of a
SoLR.
Where a SoLR is appointed, Ofgem will always seek the consent of the
Supplier(s) concerned; however, if no suitable Supplier consents to being
appointed as a SoLR, Ofgem will consider directing a Supplier against its
wishes to ensure the continuity of supply to the customers concerned. Where
Ofgem receives advance warning that a Supplier is likely to enter
receivership, Ofgem will seek bids from other Suppliers to take-on the
customer portfolio of that Defaulting Supplier. The process for seeking this
information and for selection of the SoLR is described in references 1 and 2.
Ofgem may choose to appoint one SoLR for the entire Customer portfolio or
may choose several Suppliers, each being responsible for all of the
Customers of the Defaulting Supplier in one or more GSP Groups.
Where more than one SoLR has been appointed to the customer portfolio of
the Defaulting Supplier each SoLR will commence registering for the Metering
Points to which it has been appointed. This guideline considers the
implications and processes to be adopted for the transfer of those
registrations – the requirements for this process are described in reference 4.
Where only one SoLR has been appointed for the entire portfolio of a
Defaulting Supplier that SoLR may decide not to transfer the Metering Points;
however, it must transfer the Settlement liabilities. The requirements and
procedures defined under the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) describe
the process to be followed to ensure that all Settlement liabilities are
transferred to the SoLR from the relevant Settlement Day including the
procedure for transferring BM Units in such circumstances. These procedures
are not considered further in this guideline and the processes described in
this guideline need not be followed in the event that only one SoLR is
appointed.
In order to develop the processes for registration of a SoLR to the Metering
Points to which it has been appointed, a SoLR Expert Group was established
by Ofgem and chaired by MRASCo. This Expert Group proposed a number
of alternative processes that could be adopted for these registration transfers
ranging from use of existing registration processes to the ‘bulk transfer’ of
registrations to the SoLR Supplier ID. Through a number of consultations
with industry, it was clear that no single proposal (or any combination of the
tabled proposals), if presented as a change to the industry baseline, would
gain the required support from all sectors of the industry in order for it to be
accepted and implemented. The MRA Development Board (MDB) therefore
made the decision that a guideline should be created summarising the options
available that do not require any changes to the baseline in order to be
implemented. These options are described in this guideline.
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1.5
Assumptions
In order to develop the process descriptions contained within this guideline,
the following assumptions have been made:
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
The agents previously appointed by the Defaulting Supplier do not fail.
During the SoLR project it was appreciated that if the agents of the
Defaulting Supplier were also to fail, then this would significantly
increase the risks and impact the processes adopted in a SoLR event
described. It was however agreed that in order to develop a solution to
Supplier failure, this assumption had to be made. It is for industry to
determine if further work is required to consider agent failure.

During the period of time between the SoLR being appointed and the
SoLR’s Supply Start Date (SSD) for the Metering Points concerned, the
agents previously appointed by the Defaulting Supplier will continue to
provide services for those Metering Points. This is provided-for by
Section K of the BSC.

There is no requirement for the SoLR to appoint the agents used by the
Defaulting Supplier (the process diagrams associated with this
document assume that there a change of agent). However, in cases
where the same agents are used, the agent appointment processes
would be simplified and would not be dependent on the exchange of
information from the old agents to the new agents. If the SoLR
appoints alternative agents (on or after its SSD), the agents of the
Defaulting Supplier would cease to provide services for those Metering
Points from the date of those alternative appointments – in the absence
of the Defaulting Supplier, it will be the responsibility of the SoLR to
notify the outgoing agents of the termination of appointment.

Retrospective registrations by the SoLR will not be permitted – the
SoLR will not be allowed to submit registration requests for the
Metering Points concerned containing Supply Start Dates prior to the
dates of those requests.

There are operational risks associated with the processes described in
this document. Where a Supplier is appointed as a SoLR it must
accept that it must bear such operational risks.

In accordance with Clause 26.4 of the MRA (Reference 5) all
registrations must be completed within 3 months of the SoLR
appointment.

On becoming aware of a potential Defaulting Supplier, Ofgem will
request information from that Supplier on its customer portfolio – the
request for such information is discussed in reference 2. Where such
information is provided, relevant parts of this will be forwarded to the
SoLR who may be able to determine from this, cases where the mailing
address for a Customer is different to the Metering Points address
(which is held on MPAS). Such information may also indicate which
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Metering Points in the portfolio inherited by the SoLR have pre-payment
metering.

The agents previously appointed by the Defaulting Supplier are unlikely
to receive a de-appointment notification (D0151) from that Supplier.
Where the systems of those agents require this de-appointment
notification in order to pass Metering Point information to the agents
appointed by the SoLR this will potentially delay the agent transfer
process. It is assumed that the SoLR will enter into dialogue with the
agents concerned in order to expedite a solution.

Recent experience has shown that in some instances a trade sale is
agreed between the failing Supplier and another Supplier before the
point at which a Last Resort Supply Direction would be issued. Section
K of the BSC contains provisions to allow a Supplier where specified
events have occurred to transfer some, or all, of its portfolio to another
Supplier voluntarily. The processes described in this guideline could be
utilised in such circumstances.
1.6
Half Hourly Registrations
The processes described in this paper assume that the Metering Points being
transferred are Non Half Hourly Metering Points, in particular with regard the
process for obtaining a change of Supplier meter reading.
Where a SoLR is appointed to Half Hourly Metering Points, there should be
sufficient incentives on that SoLR to register these Metering Points as quickly
as possible. This will therefore significantly reduce the period of time between
SoLR appointment and SoLR SSD. This will be assisted by the fact that there
are likely to be fewer Half Hourly Metering Points than Non Half Hourly
Metering Points transferred in a SoLR situation. In such cases, it is expected
that the SoLR would use normal change of Supplier processing to effect
those transfers and instruct its appointed Data Collector to start retrieving the
stored half hourly data from the meters concerned as soon as possible.
1.7
Acronyms and Definitions
Any capitalised term that is not defined in this guideline shall have the
meaning given to it in the MRA.
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1.8
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Annualised Advance (AA)
has the meaning given to that term
in the BSC
BM Unit
has the meaning given to that term
in the BSC
Core Industry Documents
has the meaning given to that term
in the BSC
Estimated Annual
Consumption (EAC)
has the meaning given to that term
in the BSC
Supplier ID
has the meaning given to that term
in the BSC
References
1
Supplier of Last Resort: Guidance on Current Arrangements
Published by Ofgem, March 2001
2
Supplier of Last Resort (Electricity): Appointment Process
Requirements, Version 2.0. Published by Ofgem, 29
September 2000
3
Supplier of Last Resort: Transfer of Financial Liabilities
Requirements, Version 2.0. Published by Ofgem, 29
September 2000
4
Supplier of Last Resort: Transfer of Registrations
Requirements, Version 2.0. Published by Ofgem, 29
September 2000
5
Master Registration Agreement: Version 7.0. Published by
MRASCo at full commencement of the Utilities Act
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2.
Normal Registration Processing
2.1
Overview
This section describes the registration processes to be adopted by the
Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) to transfer the Metering Points currently
registered to the Defaulting Supplier to its own Supplier ID. It also describes
the sequence of events for processing of the change of Supplier meter
reading by the Data Collector appointed by the SoLR. Other parts of the
process (for example, the selection of a SoLR) are covered, but in lesser
detail as these processes are described more fully elsewhere. The
registration processes described are essentially the normal change of
Supplier processes albeit that there are tighter timescales on completion of
certain stages.
The key constraint on the processes described here, is that the registrations
must be completed within a relatively short period after the SoLR appointment
in order that the SoLR appointment reading is processed by the Data
Collector appointed by the SoLR.
The end to end diagrams showing this process are presented in Annex A to
this document. The activities in these diagrams are labelled SoLR 1, SoLR 2,
SoLR 3 and so on and are referenced in the following detailed description of
the process (Section 2.2).
Following the detailed description of the process, there is a discussion of the
constraints placed on a SoLR using this process to transfer the registrations
of the Defaulting Supplier (Section 2.3). The key points for consideration by a
SoLR are then summarised in Section 2.4.
2.2
Detailed Description
This section provides a step-by-step description of the process:
i. In accordance with the process described in Reference 2, Ofgem
determines that the Failing Supplier’s licence shall be revoked and,
from the bids received from potential Suppliers of Last Resort, selects
which SoLR shall be appointed to the Failing Supplier’s MPANs in each
GSP Group area. This may include appointment of a SoLR against its
wishes. (SoLR 1 to 7).
ii. Ofgem announces the Licence Revocation and the SoLR
appointment(s). This will trigger the MPAS Providers to forward the
information they hold on the MPANs concerned to the appointed
SoLRs. Service Providers are required to provide these details to the
SoLR within 4 working days of the request being made, in accordance
with MRA Clause 26.1 (Reference 5). (SoLR 7 and SoLR 8).
iii.
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Once each appointed SoLR has been notified of its appointment and
has received the details of the Metering Points to which it has been
appointed, the SoLR will then be in a position to commence submitting
registration requests (D0055s) for those Metering Points and also to
commence writing to the customers concerned to notify them of the
appointment (SoLR 9).
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The normal sequence of events for the transfer of a registration are then
followed:
iv. In response to each D0055 received from the SoLR, MPAS will provide
the appropriate registration confirmations (D00217/D0260) or
rejections (D0057). The SoLR must submit Supply Start Dates (SSD)
in accordance with existing MRA rules and will not be allowed to make
retrospective registrations. The Defaulting Supplier will not be allowed
to submit any objections to these registrations. (SoLR 17)
v.
The SoLR commences the appointment of a Data Collector, Data
Aggregator and Meter Operator for each of the Metering Points (this
can be commenced at any stage – the appointments must however be
effective from the registered SSD for each particular Metering Point)
(SoLR 10 to 16)
vi.
If the SoLR has appointed agents other than those used by the
Defaulting Supplier, an exchange of Metering Point information occurs
between the old and new agents (SoLR 18 to 21)
vii.
Once the agent appointments have been confirmed, the SoLR
provides its appointed Data Collector with any reading provided by the
Customer or instructs that Data Collector to obtain a reading. In
accordance with Settlement rules, the Data Collector must determine
the most appropriate read for the change of Supplier on SSD + 8
working days and submit this (on a D0086) to the SoLR, the Data
Collector appointed by the Defaulting Supplier and the Distributor.
Without changes to its Supplier billing systems, the SoLR will start
billing the customer from the SSD reading rather than from the SoLR
appointment date. As with normal CoS processing, the Data Collector
will produce a D0010 for each candidate CoS reading and a D0019
containing the initial EAC based on the CoS reading. (SoLR 22, 23, 25
and 61)
viii.
If the administrators of the Defaulting Supplier’s assets have made
appropriate arrangements, the CoS reading received by the Defaulting
Supplier’s Data Collector may be used as a basis for producing a
closing account to the Customer. However if it is, the reading must be
deemed back to the date of the licence revocation in order that the
administrators of the Defaulting Supplier do not bill the Customer for
any period after the licence revocation. As with normal CoS
processing, the Data Collector of the Defaulting Supplier (the ‘old’ Data
Collector) will produce a D0019 containing the final AA based on the
CoS reading (SoLR 25 to 26)
2.3
Constraints on this process
In order for a SoLR to use this process and still comply with its Licence
obligation to obtain and process a SoLR appointment reading within 14
calendar days of its appointment, all the registrations must be transferred to
the SoLR within a few days of appointment. This is considered in more detail
below:
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
Denoting Day D as the day of the SoLR appointment, between day D
and day D+3 working days, the SoLR can expect to receive from
MPAS Providers the details of the Metering Points to which it has been
appointed. (These details are requested on Day D-1 and must be
submitted to the SoLR(s) within 4 working days of that request).

Once the SoLR has the required MPAD information, it will be in a
position to:

-
commence writing to the customers concerned, notifying them
of the SoLR appointment and, if appropriate, requesting a meter
reading.
-
commence submitting registration requests for the MPANs.
In accordance with its Licence obligations, the SoLR must have made
reasonable endeavours by D plus 14 calendar days to obtain a SoLR
appointment reading. It is anticipated that in most cases the customer
will provide this or the reading will be deemed.
These key events are shown on the timeline below:
D
SoLR
appointment
date
D+3 working days
MPAD
report due
by this
date
D+14 calendar days
SoLR
Reading to be
obtained by this date
SoLR commences submitting
registration requests
SoLR commences notifying
customers of the appointment
During this period (as at all times), the SoLR and the Data Collector
appointed by the SoLR must comply with the existing rules for processing all
meter readings and in particular those obtained on change of Supplier. The
pertinent parts of those rules are summarised below:
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Under BSC obligations, any meter reading obtained must be
processed and submitted into Settlement. Therefore if a reading is
provided by the Customer on or around the time of the SoLR
appointment it must be processed and submitted into Settlement.

In order for the Data Collector appointed by the SoLR to process a
reading as part of its normal processing, that reading must be taken on
or after the Data Collector’s appointment date, and therefore on or
after the SoLR’s SSD. If this is the case, irrespective of whether it is
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used as the Meter Reading on Change of Supplier (MRoCoS), the
Data Collector will process that reading and submit it into Settlement.

Since any reading obtained within 5 working days either side of a
Supplier’s SSD is a potential candidate for the MRoCoS, the Data
Collector appointed by the SoLR may still process a reading taken
before SSD as long as that reading was taken in the period SSD-5 to
SSD-1 and that reading is used for the MRoCoS.
Summarising all of these constraints, the SoLR can use the process
described above to transfer the registrations of the Defaulting Supplier’s
MPANs and comply with its obligations regarding meter reading processing if:

the SoLR appointment reading is taken (or provided by the Customer)
within 14 days of appointment and the date of the reading is on or after
the SoLR SSD. The Data Collector would therefore process that
reading irrespective of whether it is used for the MRoCoS.

the SoLR appointment reading is taken (or provided by the Customer)
within 14 days of appointment but prior to the SoLR SSD as long as
the reading is no more than 5 days prior to the SSD and that reading is
used for the MRoCoS. This will only be the case if there is no better
candidate for the MRoCoS taken after the SoLR appointment reading
in accordance with the rules stated in BSCP504.
As previously stated, the Data Collector appointed by the Defaulting Supplier
will receive a copy of the MRoCoS (in accordance with normal processing of
CoS readings). Where this reading was taken after the SoLR appointment,
this reading must be estimated back to the date of the Licence revocation
before being used by the administrators of the Defaulting Supplier to bill the
Customer. This is essential to ensure that the closing account to the
Customer does not include any consumption after the Licence revocation. As
the Defaulting Supplier or its administrators will carry out this estimation, the
SoLR will not have sight of this reading and will not therefore be in a position
to align the closing and opening readings to the Customer. Further, even if
the SoLR were to receive a copy of the MRoCoS estimated back to SoLR
appointment date, it still may not be able to use this to commence billing the
Customer, as Supplier systems will be designed to commence billing the
customer from the SSD - the SoLR appointment date and therefore the date
of the estimated reading will be prior to the SoLR SSD.
Consequently, using this process there is a significant risk that the closing
reading used by the Defaulting Supplier (or its administrator) to close the
account with the Customer, will not match the start reading used by the SoLR
to open the Customer account. This will inevitably generate queries from
Customers who may in turn dispute those readings.
It should also be noted that it is possible that in the interval between the SoLR
being appointed to the MPAN and the SoLR submitting its registration
request, the Customer could choose another Supplier (Supplier Z) and that
Supplier could submit its registration request. If the SoLR then submits its
own registration request and this registration is accepted (any lock-out period
from Supplier Z’s registration having expired) then Supplier Z would lose the
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Metering Points, contrary to the Customer’s wishes. Such instances would be
considered as Erroneous Registration and would be resolved via the
Erroneous Registration process in order to return the registration to the
Customer’s chosen Supplier.
Summary of Issues
2.4
Below is a summary of the key issues a SoLR would have to consider if
following the process described above:
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
The appointment date of the SoLR and the SoLR SSD will not be
aligned.

A Supplier will only fulfil its obligations using this process if either
-
the SoLR appointment reading is taken on or after the SoLR
SSD, or
-
the SoLR appointment reading is taken before the SoLR SSD
but is used as the CoS reading.

If a customer own reading for the SoLR appointment is provided prior
to SSD and is not used as the MRoCoS, that reading would not be
processed into Settlement.

The closing reading used by the administrators of the Defaulting
Supplier may not correspond to the start reading used by the SoLR.

Without significant changes to Supplier systems or a manual over-ride
to those systems, the SoLR will only commence billing the Customer
from the SSD and not the SoLR appointment date.

If the Customer chooses an alternative Supplier to the SoLR who in
turn registers before the SoLR submits its registration, the Erroneous
Registration process would have to be invoked to resolve the situation.
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3.
Agreement between SoLR and Defaulting Supplier’s
Data Collector
3.1
Overview
The process so far described in section 2, allow for all registrations to be
completed within a relatively short timescale in order to facilitate the timely
submission of SoLR appointment readings into Settlement. Where the
Customer portfolio acquired by the SoLR is of significant size, these
timescales may not be achievable and the SoLR may therefore wish to
consider other means in order to meet its Settlement obligations.
Amongst the solutions presented by the SoLR Expert Group, a scenario was
proposed whereby the SoLR reaches an agreement with the Data Collector
appointed by the Defaulting Supplier so that all readings taken prior to the
SoLR SSD are processed into Settlement. This process is described here. It
should however be noted that the original proposal suggested changes to the
baseline to support this process. As no agreement has been reached to
make these changes, participants should note that there are no obligations on
either Data Collectors or Suppliers to support these arrangements and that
there are no agreed flow structures to support any of the non-standard
communications included in this description.
The end to end diagrams showing this process are presented in Annex B to
this document. The activities in these diagrams are labelled SoLR 1, SoLR 2,
SoLR 3 and so on and are referenced in the following detailed description of
the process (Section 3.2).
Following the detailed description of the process (Section 3.2), there is a
discussion of the constraints placed on a SoLR wishing to use this process to
support the transfer of registrations from the Defaulting Supplier (Section 3.3).
The key points for consideration by a SoLR are then summarised in Section
3.4.
3.2
Detailed Description
This section provides a step-by-step description of the process
Up to the point where a Supplier receives notification that it has been
appointed as the SoLR for a portfolio of MPANs, the process follows the
same sequence as for normal registration process described in section 2 steps (i) to (iii) in section 2.2.
Then:
iii a
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At some time after the SoLR has received notification that it has been
appointed as SoLR and received notification from MPAS of the ID of
the incumbent Data Collector for the Metering Points that are to be
transferred, the SoLR will contact that Data Collector. The SoLR then
negotiates with that Data Collector to either:
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-
Accept a copy of a Customer own reading taken at or around
the time of the SoLR appointment
-
Or, obtain a meter reading for the SoLR appointment (it is
expected that in most cases this will be a deemed meter
reading).
The Data Collector would then process that reading and submit it into
Settlement using normal processing thereby providing a copy of the
processed reading to the Distributor and to the Defaulting Supplier (or
its administrators). The SoLR should therefore arrange that it also
receives a copy of the results of the processing of that reading. This
would be outwith normal meter reading processing for the Data
Collector.
It is not anticipated that the SoLR will make this request for all the
MPANs that are to be transferred from the Defaulting Supplier but only
those that it expects not to have registered within the timescales
prescribed in section 2 (SoLR 27 and 28).
iii b
On receipt of the processed reading, the Defaulting Supplier (or its
administrators) may then use this reading as a basis for the closing
account for the Customer concerned. In cases where this reading is
dated after the SoLR appointment date, the reading should be deemed
back to the date of the appointment before being used to bill the
Customer (SoLR 29).
iii c
On receiving the copy of the SoLR appointment reading, the SoLR
may be in a position to use this as a start reading for the Customer
account (SoLR 30).
Once these arrangements have been made, the SoLR will then follow normal
processing to submit, in due course, the registrations for these Metering
Points and appoint its own agents. Therefore to complete this process, steps
(iv) to (vii) of normal registration processing described in section 2.2 would be
followed. Although the Data Collector appointed by the Defaulting Supplier
would receive a copy of the MRoCoS in this process (step viii in section 2.2),
it is not anticipated that this reading would be used to generate a final account
to the Customer as the reading processed in steps (iii) a and (iii) b would be
used as the basis for the closing account.
3.3
Constraints on the Process
If the SoLR is able to follow the processes described in section 3.2, it will be
able to ensure that a SoLR appointment reading taken prior to SSD is
processed and submitted into Settlement.
However, in order for this alternative to be used, the SoLR must first establish
a relationship with the Data Collector previously appointed by the Defaulting
Supplier such that it is prepared to accept and process meter readings on
behalf of the SoLR. This will be prior to the SoLR submitting its registration
requests for the Metering Points concerned and therefore prior to the SoLR
being able to formally appoint a Data Collector to those Metering Points.
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Such a relationship is unprecedented in current market operation (in no other
situation is a Supplier required to establish a relationship with an agent for a
particular Metering Point that it has not previously appointed to that Metering
Point). Although such an arrangement may require some manual intervention
over normal meter reading processing, once the Data Collector has accepted
the Customer own reading provided by the SoLR or the instruction to obtain a
reading and has agreed to provide a copy of the processed reading to the
SoLR, normal processing would be used.
As with the process described in section 2.2, if the SoLR registration should
replace the registration of another supplier chosen by the Customer, then the
Erroneous Registration procedure would have to be invoked to restore the
registration to the Customer’s selected supplier (see section 2.3).
3.4
Summary of Issues
Below is a summary of the key issues a SoLR would have to consider if
following the process described above:
 The appointment date of the SoLR and the SoLR SSD will not be
aligned. In the period between these two dates the information held on
registration systems will not correspond to the Settlement liabilities of
the Metering Points concerned.
 Relies on arrangements between the SoLR and the Data Collector
appointed by the Defaulting Supplier in order for the appointment
reading to be processed.
 In order for the Data Collector appointed by the Defaulting Supplier to
process a reading provided by the SoLR and submit a copy of the
processed reading to the SoLR, may require manual intervention to the
Data Collector’s systems and procedures for processing (non-CoS)
readings.
 Unless the SoLR appointment reading is actually taken on the SoLR
appointment date, there is still a possibility that the reading used by the
Defaulting Supplier to close the Customer account does not match that
used by the SoLR to commence billing the Customer.
 If the Customer chooses an alternative Supplier to the SoLR who in
turn registers before the SoLR submits its registration, the Erroneous
Registrations process would have to be invoked to resolve the situation.
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Annex A – Diagrams showing Normal Registration Processing
The diagrams to support this process should be read in the following order:
SHEET 1A
SHEET 2A
SHEET 1B
SHEET 1C
SHEET 2B
Supplier of Last Resort Process (Non Bulk)
SHEET 2D
SHEET 2C
SoLR
NHHMO
Notification
of MOp
appointment
Failing Supplier
situation resolved
(eg Trade Sale)
D0155
Potential
failing
Supplier in
difficulty
Discuss resolution of
problem with Potential
Failing Supplier. Restrict
registration activity (if
appropriate) and request
details of portfolio.
Check data held on
potential Suppliers of
Last Resort
Potential DS
Request for
details of
Customer
Portfolio
Provide details of
Customer
Portfolio
Details of
Customer
Portfolio
Make provisional match between SoLR
information and Defaulting Supplier
portfolio. Update stored information on
Potential SoLRs. Resolve Failing
Supplier problem (eg via Trade Sale) or
make decision to revoke licence.
Ofgem
Licence
Revoked
SoLR 4
SoLR 3
Request for count
of MPANs
registered to the
Defaulting Supplier
Request for
MPAN Details
of DS
SoLR 5
Potential SoLR
Confirm or
update
information held
by Ofgem
MPAS
Ofgem
SoLR 2
SoLR 1
Request to confirm
stored details on
potential Suppliers of
Last Resort
Process Request
for count of
MPANS
registered to the
Defaulting
Supplier
SoLR 6
Count of MPANs
registered to the
Defaulting Supplier
Receive information on
counts of MPANs and
retrieve information on
potential SoLR and any
supporting information.
Evaluate and select
SoLR(s). Notify each
SoLR of its
appointment; pass-on
details of MPAN counts
and notify participants
of appointment
NHHMO
Provide details of
other agents and
customer details
SoLR 13
NHHDC
Create report of MPAD
information and pass on
to the SoLR(s)
SoLR 8
Notification
of DC
appointment
MPAD
information
D0204
D0155
Confirm
acceptance
of
appointment
SoLR 15
Forward meter
technical details
Request for
meter
technical
details
SoLR 18
D0170
Meter
technical
details
SoLR 20
SoLR 14
DS NHHDC
Request EAC/AA
history from DC
appointed by
Defaulting Supplier
D0148
D0131
SoLR 16
Forward EAC/AA
history
Request for
EAC/AA
history
EAC/AA
History
SoLR 19
D0170
Receive
consumption history.
Confirm that MPAN
has been included in
the reading schedule
D0010
D0152
SoLR 21
D0055
SoLR 17
Notification to
Participants of SoLR
appointment(s)
Formal notice of
licence revocation
D0153
Confirm
acceptance
of
contractual
appointment
SoLR 12
Customer
Closing bill
to customer
Customer
SoLR 26
Confirmation that
registration
request has
been accepted
SoLR
NHHDC
Receive confirmation of
registration and agent
appointments. Instruct DC to
process or obtain MRoCoS
D0217
D0260
Instruct DC to
process CoR, obtain
read and/or deem
reading for SSD
Obtain and/or
process reading for
SSD. On SSD+8,
forward readings to
SoLR, old DC and
Distributor.
SSD
reading
Receive SSD reading.
Reading used as start
reading for customer
SoLR
Customer
start
reading
SoLR
Records
D0086
SoLR 25
SoLR 23
SoLR
Confirmation
of
appointment
D0011
SoLR
Records
Confirmation of
registration
D0209
Notification
to customer
of SoLR
appointment
Ofgem
Agents,
Suppliers,
Distributors,
PPMIPs
NHHDA
Consumption
details
submitted to
Settlements
DS NHHDA
NHHDA
Data
Aggregator
Records
Normal processing - SSD within 14 days of appointment
Data
Aggregator
Records
D0019
Customer
Receive notification of
SoLR appointment. If
appropriate, provide meter
reading
Reading
provided by
customer
SoLR 61
SHEET 3H
Version:
Status:
Receive SSD reading. If
appropriate, bill customer
using reading (deemed
back to date of licence
revocation)
SoLR 24
D0072
D0071
SoLR Option
SHEET 3G
Copy of
SSD
reading
D0086
Confirmation
MPAN is in
the reading
schedules
SoLR 22
NHHDA
Updated
information
on Potential
Suppliers of
Last Resort
Forward SSD reading
to Administrators of
Defaulting Supplier
SSD
reading
D0149
D0150
SoLR 9
SoLR 7
Confirmation
or updated
information
Ofgem
Records
Adminstrators of DS
DS NHHDC
SoLR
Process
registration request
Submit registration
request for MPAN
Meter
technical
details
D0149
D0150
Meter
technical
details
D0012
MPAS
Receive notification of
appointment, MPAN count
and MPAD information.
Notify customer of
appointment. Register for
MPAN(s) and appoint
agents
Distributor
Records
D0086
Receive meter
technical details.
Forward to SoLR and
DC
D0149
D0150
SHEET 2E
Distributor
SSD
reading
NHHMO
DS NHHMO
Request meter
technical details from
MOp appointed by
Defaulting Supplier
NHHDC
Customer
and agent
details
SoLR
Notification of appointment,
appropriate MPAN counts
and details of Defaulting
Supplier's portfolio
Customer
and agent
details
D0148
D0131
NHHDC
Provide details of
other agents and
customer details
Confirmation of
appointment
D0011
SoLR 11
Confirmation of DA
appointment
Process Driver Path
Confirmation of
appointment
D0011
SoLR 10
SoLR
MPAS
Instruction to
pass on MPAD
information to
appointed
SoLR(s)
Ofgem
Ofgem
Confirm
acceptance
of
appointment
SHEET 1E
SHEET 1D
SHEET 2I
SHEET 2J
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Annex B – Diagrams showing use of the Defaulting Supplier’s Data Collector to process the Appointment
Reading
The following diagrams should be read in the following order:
SHEET 2A
SHEET 2A
SHEET 2B
SHEET 2C
SHEET 2B
Supplier of Last Resort Process (Non Bulk)
SHEET 2D
SHEET 2C
SoLR
NHHMO
Confirm
acceptance
of
appointment
Notification
of MOp
appointment
Failing Supplier
situation resolved
(eg Trade Sale)
Potential DS
Request for
details of
Customer
Portfolio
Provide details of
Customer
Portfolio
Details of
Customer
Portfolio
Make provisional match between SoLR
information and Defaulting Supplier
portfolio. Update stored information on
Potential SoLRs. Resolve Failing
Supplier problem (eg via Trade Sale) or
make decision to revoke licence.
Instruction to
pass on MPAD
information to
appointed
SoLR(s)
Ofgem
Licence
Revoked
SoLR 1
SoLR 4
Confirm or
update
information held
by Ofgem
Request for count
of MPANs
registered to the
Defaulting Supplier
Request for
MPAN Details
of DS
SoLR 5
Potential SoLR
Request to confirm
stored details on
potential Suppliers of
Last Resort
MPAS
Ofgem
SoLR 2
Process Request
for count of
MPANS
registered to the
Defaulting
Supplier
Count of MPANs
registered to the
Defaulting Supplier
SoLR 6
Receive information on
counts of MPANs and
retrieve information on
potential SoLR and any
supporting information.
Evaluate and select
SoLR(s). Notify each
SoLR of its
appointment; pass-on
details of MPAN counts
and notify participants
of appointment
SoLR 8
Confirm
acceptance
of
appointment
Notification
of DC
appointment
MPAD
information
D0204
D0170
NHHDC
D0148
D0131
EAC/AA
History
SoLR 19
D0010
D0152
SoLR 21
Forward SSD reading
to Administrators of
Defaulting Supplier
SSD
reading
D0086
SoLR 24
Confirmation
MPAN is in
the reading
schedules
Confirmation that
registration
request has
been accepted
Process
registration request
D0055
Receive confirmation of
registration and agent
appointments. Instruct DC to
process or obtain MRoCoS
D0217
D0260
SoLR 17
Instruct DC to
process CoR, obtain
read and/or deem
reading for SSD
D0072
D0071
SoLR 9
NHHDC
SoLR
Obtain and/or
process reading for
SSD. On SSD+8,
forward readings to
SoLR, old DC and
Distributor.
Receive SSD reading.
Reading used as start
reading for customer
SSD
reading
D0086
SoLR 25
SoLR 23
SoLR 22
Confirmation of
registration
NHHDA
Confirm
acceptance
of
contractual
appointment
D0153
Notification to
Participants of SoLR
appointment(s)
SoLR 12
SoLR
Confirmation
of
appointment
D0209
SoLR
Records
DS NHHDA
NHHDA
D0011
SoLR Option
Receive notification of
SoLR appointment. If
appropriate, provide meter
reading
Notification
to customer
of SoLR
appointment
Agents,
Suppliers,
Distributors,
PPMIPs
Data
Aggregator
Records
Reading
stored.
SoLR
Records
D0019
Customer
SoLR reading processed by incumbent agents
Ofgem
SoLR
NHHDA
Consumption
details
submitted to
Settlements
Data
Aggregator
Records
Ofgem
Records
Administrator
of DS
DS NHHDC
SoLR
SoLR 7
Confirmation
or updated
information
Formal notice of
licence revocation
Adminstrators of DS
Copy of SSD
reading
D0012
Submit registration
request for MPAN
SoLR 3
Updated
information
on Potential
Suppliers of
Last Resort
Distributor
Records
D0149
D0150
Meter
technical
details
D0149
D0150
Receive
consumption history.
Confirm that MPAN
has been included in
the reading schedule
Forward EAC/AA
history
Request for
EAC/AA
history
D0170
SoLR 16
SHEET 2E
Distributor
Meter
technical
details
SoLR 20
MPAS
Receive notification of
appointment, MPAN count
and MPAD information.
Notify customer of
appointment. Register for
MPAN(s) and appoint
agents
SHEET 2E
D0086
Receive meter
technical details.
Forward to SoLR and
DC
Meter
technical
details
D0149
D0150
DS NHHDC
Request EAC/AA
history from DC
appointed by
Defaulting Supplier
Customer
and agent
details
SoLR 14
SoLR
Notification of appointment,
appropriate MPAN counts
and details of Defaulting
Supplier's portfolio
SoLR 18
NHHDC
Provide details of
other agents and
customer details
Confirmation of
appointment
D0011
SoLR 11
D0155
Forward meter
technical details
Request for
meter
technical
details
SoLR 15
SSD
reading
NHHMO
DS NHHMO
Request meter
technical details from
MOp appointed by
Defaulting Supplier
Customer
and agent
details
D0148
D0131
SoLR
NHHDC
Create report of MPAD
information and pass on
to the SoLR(s)
Confirmation of DA
appointment
Process Driver Path
NHHMO
Provide details of
other agents and
customer details
SoLR 13
MPAS
Discuss resolution of
problem with Potential
Failing Supplier. Restrict
registration activity (if
appropriate) and request
details of portfolio.
Check data held on
potential Suppliers of
Last Resort
Confirmation of
appointment
D0011
SoLR 10
D0155
Ofgem
Ofgem
Potential
failing
Supplier in
difficulty
SHEET 2D
Reading
provided by
customer
SoLR 61
SHEET 3H
SHEET 3G
SHEET 2I
Distributor
SoLR
reading
required
prior to
MRoCoS
SoLR
reading or
routine
reading
SHEET 2J
Distributor
Records
D0010
DS NHHDC
SoLR
Negotiate with DC
appointed by DS to
process SoLR or
obtain SoLR reading
CoR and/or instruction
to obtain and process
SoLR reading
Process CoR or obtain SoLR
reading as instructed.
Process routine reading (if
appropriate)
SoLR 27
Adminstrators of DS
Receive SoLR or routine
reading. If appropriate, bill
customer using reading
(deemed back to date of
licence revocation)
SoLR
reading or
routine
reading
Customer
Closing bill
to customer
Customer
SoLR 28
D0010
SoLR 29
SoLR
Receive copy of SoLR
or routine reading.
Could be used as start
reading for customer
billing
Copy of SoLR
reading or routine
reading
SoLR
Customer
start
reading
SoLR
Records
D0010
SoLR 30
DS NHHDA
Consumption data
submitted to
Settlements
Data
Aggregator
Records
D0019
SHEET 2G
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