Round-up: What changes are being made to the Electricity Enquiry Service (EES)?
On 6th July 2023, we held a webinar to discuss the changes to the Electricity Enquiry Service as part of the Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) programme. Thank you to everyone who joined us and asked questions. In this article, you can find a round-up of the webinar, links to the recording and slides, and answers to the most frequently asked questions.
What happened at the webinar?
Firstly, Jonathan Hawkins, our Interim Director of Operations Programmes, discussed the Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) programme and explained why changes to the EES are necessary to progress this initiative. He summarised that changes to the EES will reflect the following:
- New, amended or removed data items due from the MHHS’s design;
- The new user roles required by new or amended market participants;
- A move to event-driven architecture and near real-time updates to data;
- Forward and reverse migration between legacy and MHHS arrangements.
Jonny Moore, our MHHS Delivery Manager, then discussed the User Portal, including the data items being added or removed, migration considerations, changes to the search results filter, new icons, panel changes and more. He also summarised the changes being made to the API, which are planned to come into effect in April 2025. He summarised that the API would have the following design principles:
- New data items will be added to the end of the payload;
- The same file will be provided independent of a party’s MHHS qualification status;
- The means of connecting to the API will remain unchanged;
- Data items not populated for an MPAN will be provided as null values.
In terms of reporting, Jonny confirmed that all standard reports will be reviewed, with the EES Service Provider contacting parties directly to discuss amendments to bespoke reports.
Finally, Jonathan Hawkins discussed the MHHS delivery plan, confirming that the go-live will occur between March and June 2025. Following this, we opened up the floor for questions.
A summary of the Q&A
We received many questions during the webinar. Below is a summary of the most frequently asked with our response.
Q: We are currently in the role of ‘Third Party Intermediary Service Provider” – are we eligible for the new data fields?
A: Yes an updated version of the data access matrix is available on the REC Portal, which sets out which data items are available to each role. MHHS link – https://www.mhhsprogramme.co.uk/code/code-artefacts/tranche-2
REC Portal link (must be logged in) – https://recportal.co.uk/web/msag/solution-documents
Q: Can housing groups use this without having to pay for the search?
A: Users currently accessing the service under either a local authority or non-domestic consumer role will continue to have access in accordance with the data access matrix. There is no proposed change to the charging arrangements for use of the web portal or API.
Q: Regarding the new EES data items – which of these are at MPAN level, and which are at meter level?
A: The majority of data items exist at MPAN level. Some data items are attributable to the meter, such as meter manufacturer, number of register digits, meter location and ESME ID.
Q: Why is the DIP ID being displayed as a tool tip, rather than including the text on the panel?
A: This has been designed to minimise the amount of additional text on the screen, improving navigation. This takes into account user feedback from our MHHS stakeholder advisory group.
Q: Will you still be able to see who the current MOP is and the MOP history?
A: Yes
Q: When will the API documentation be released and where can I access it?
A: We will publish the updated API Technical Specification in August 2023. We will make all EES users aware of the publication and how to raise concerns/provide feedback.
Q: Are annual consumption figures appropriate to be shared with market participants? How is RECCo going to ensure that this is not used for marketing purposes?
A: Yes, a data protection impact assessment has been completed in relation to the updated data items. These are deemed to be acceptable for access under the current EES user roles. All EES access is subject to the terms of use set out in the REC and the user access agreement.
Q: Is there a cost to access the EES API?
A: Yes, this is set out in the REC Charging statement which is available on the REC Portal.
Q: Will the EES have access to HH data?
A: Access to HH consumption data is not in the scope of the EES. This is intended to reflect standing data relevant to the MPAN. Granular HH consumption will need to be accessed either via DCC, central settlement systems or other solutions developed by the market.
Q: Why is the SMETS version being removed?
A: This is an MHHS design decision. There is limited use of this data item, and the SMETS version can be more accurately derived from the meter type.
Q: Would we use DIP to send messages to other MOPs or suppliers, or will we still use SDEP?
A: Both. The MHHS design sets out which messages are used to support each business process, including DIP, DTN or SDEP as appropriate. Link to MHHS design artefacts – https://www.mhhsprogramme.co.uk/design/baselined-design-artefacts
Q: Would publishing the annual consumption and quality of the data be used to avoid certain customers with poor data history?
A: We believe this is unlikely. Suppliers will need to ensure they comply with the condition of their license and wider regulatory obligations when determining how to use this data to support switching activities.
Q: Will the fields be different?
A: MHHS-specific data items will be available for MPANs that have successfully migrated to MHHS arrangements. Legacy MPANs that have not yet migrated to MHHS will continue to display legacy data items. Legacy data items that are not relevant to MHHS will not be displayed.
Q: How is the annual consumption calculated?
A: Details of how the annual consumption is calculated is set out in the Annual Consumption method statement available here: Link – https://www.mhhsprogramme.co.uk/design/baselined-design-artefacts/supporting-documents
Q: Is there a plan for UPRN to be added against the electricity and gas addresses?
A: There are no plans to introduce UPRN now or as a part of MHHS.
Q: How will suppliers access legacy EES Data?
A: Legacy MPANs will continue to display existing data items. MHHS MPANs will display new data items once all suppliers have successfully migrated.
Watch the webinar
You can watch the webinar in full here or download the slides here.
Provide feedback
Did you attend the webinar? We’d love to hear your feedback so we can improve our webinars in the future. Please take 2 minutes to fill in our feedback form here.
You can also get in touch with the team by emailing: mhhs@retailenergycode.co.uk
