Moving into the next phase of development
We’re preparing for the next phase of our Enquiry Services to ensure they continue to meet growing market demands and support a smarter, more flexible retail energy system. While the services have performed strongly since we took ownership in 2022, increasing usage and evolving stakeholder needs mean it’s time to modernise, strengthen, and future-proof these critical market services.
Why change now
Since 2022, we’ve provided Enquiry Services (Gas and Electricity Enquiry Services) for the retail energy market, alongside the Green Deal Central Charging (GDCC) service and the Secure Data Exchange Service (SDES).
Over this period, these services have been operating well, with almost 100% of service levels being consistently met, alongside major improvements, such as:
- Introducing faster switching
- Re-platforming the Gas Enquiry Services (GES), delivering a significant cost reduction
- Re-platforming the Green Deal Central Charging (GDCC), halving its cost
- Changing the Electricity Enquiry Service (EES), supporting Market Wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) implementation
A strong track record
However, as the sector shifts towards a digital, data-driven market, demand for the Enquiry Services has grown substantially. Usage patterns indicate a growing demand from REC Parties and emerging users, who recognise opportunities to leverage this data to drive innovation, enhance consumer outcomes, and facilitate the transition to a smarter, more flexible energy system.
This pattern of growth has, at times, put significant strain on the Enquiry Services, and we expect this to continue in the future. On occasion, due to exceptional peaks aligned to price-cap events or major industry migrations, we’ve experienced failures in some parts of the service. Therefore, we must act now to address these current issues and plan for the future.
Our plan for the next phase
As part of our ongoing commitment to delivering efficient, resilient, and future-ready services for the retail energy market, we’re defining the next phase of the Enquiry Services.
These services provide essential data that underpins core market processes, from switching to operational issue resolution. This helps ensure that consumers experience a smoother and more reliable journey when interacting with the energy market.
To maintain this reliability and to support improved consumer outcomes, we’re undertaking a programme of work to ensure that the Enquiry Services continue to evolve in line with market needs and policy ambitions.
This includes assessing the current service model, system architecture, and Service Provider capabilities to ensure the Enquiry Services remain resilient, innovative, and fit for the future, while also continuing to deliver the reliability and performance that users depend on.
We expect to place new contracts for the Enquiry Services to reflect the latest contract best practice and ensure long-term value for money for the industry – and ultimately for the consumers who benefit from a more effective energy market.
Enquiry Services Evolution Project
Phase 1: Independent technology assessment
Supported by an independent specialist technology consultancy, we assessed options for long-term provision of the Enquiry Services. This identified several options for the future. This included continuation and evolution of our existing services with the incumbent Service Providers and procurement of a single Dual-Fuel Service.
The development and deployment of the MHHS programme were critical factors in determining when this objective could be achieved.
Phase 2: Incumbent providers’ proposals
As set out in our 2024-25 Budget consultation, we outlined the rationale for progressing with the incumbent Service Providers to procure a long-term solution to meet our emerging requirements.
We asked each incumbent Service Provider to demonstrate how they’d evolve the Enquiry Services to meet our standards on data and digitalisation, deliver cost reductions measured over five years, and accept a contract reflecting the latest best practices. This work was completed in the summer of 2025, and it led us to conclude that it’s now timely to develop and deliver a new Dual-Fuel Enquiry Service.
We subsequently initiated an independent assessment of what a Service Provider might bid through a competitive tender to meet the new requirements fully. This included the option to allow data processing outside the European Economic Area.
This work confirmed that a new Dual-Fuel Service can be procured that will meet the commercial and technical aspirations of RECCo and the industry, at a materially reduced cost compared to the incumbent Service Providers’ offers.
Any risk can also be mitigated by introducing tried-and-tested, cloud-native building blocks and carefully migrating to the new services using our API Gateway (see details below).
Phase 3: Moving to one Dual-Fuel Service
Based on all evidence, the REC Board has approved the procurement of a single Dual-Fuel Service to replace the existing Enquiry Services. This requires RECCo to invest in procuring the new Dual-Fuel Service and migrating users and data from the legacy services to the new service.
This will result in a more flexible, cost-effective service that’s ‘backwards compatible’ with the legacy interfaces, while offering much more flexibility to meet emerging industry requirements, and reducing the total cost to industry.
What’s coming up
Over the coming months, we’ll engage with a broad range of stakeholders to share information about our approach to the procurement activity. This engagement will inform stakeholders of the plan being undertaken (including key milestones), any dependencies on Enquiry Service users, and offer stakeholders the option to participate in several testing initiatives.
This engagement will allow Enquiry Services users to clarify how and when these changes will be introduced and to confirm what they need to do to prepare for the improved services. This engagement will also inform the long-term model for delivery of the Enquiry Services beyond 2027.
Dual-Fuel Service procurement timeline
We’ve begun the process to procure a combined Dual-Fuel Service to replace the existing Enquiry Services. This includes the EES, GES, GDCC, and SDES. Here’s our provisional timeline:
- Now: Procurement underway
- By July 2026: Anticipated contract award for a Service Provider
- By July 2027: Migrate GES
- By July 2028: Migrate EES, GDCC, and SDEP
As discussions with potential Service Providers progress, we’ll keep key stakeholders up to date with any changes to these dates.
Building a stronger tech foundation
The resulting technology stack for the Enquiry Services will ensure that performance and scalability are maintained flexibly as new requirements emerge. This will be achieved by introducing a cloud-native, scalable solution that can expand and contract on demand, ensuring peak performance is maintained at a cost-effective level.
A smoother migration pathway
We’re aware of the challenges of moving users, data, and services to a new Service Provider – and the importance of keeping stakeholders informed at an appropriate level throughout the project, particularly where dependencies exist with users.
We’ve developed a migration plan that will minimise risk by splitting the migration into two independent stages.
Migration stage one
Migrate all users to connect to the existing services through our API Gateway, rather than connecting directly to the existing EES and GES. This will require users to amend the URLs they call when accessing the services.
We’ll include a three-month trial, followed by a further six-month period, for all testing and migration to be completed. Users will be able to migrate at their own pace, avoiding a single-event transition. Accessing the existing services through the API Gateway will provide the same results in the same formats as if the user connected directly.
Migration stage two
Migrating from the existing EES and GES to the new services will leverage the API Gateway. We plan to make this transparent for users, although a brief service outage may be necessary to ensure all data is flushed through the systems for data integrity.
This approach considerably reduces the workload of users and minimises the risk associated with an instant cutover, whereby all users would have to manage the transition themselves.
We’ll issue regular communications that detail the approach being taken. Where necessary, we’ll allow a suitable time period for users to make any required changes. We’ll work to minimise the amount of change needed by the industry.
Your route into the new services: API Gateway
As part of our Digital Services project, we’ll introduce a single point of entry to our API services. Known as the RECCo API Gateway, this sole access point will manage all API calls to our services. This will bring about security and change benefits, while enabling a transition period to the new Enquiry Services, rather than a big bang approach.
Users of the Enquiry Services will be invited to a three-month test period from July 2026, during which they can test integration with the API Gateway to access the existing Enquiry Services.
The transition from operational use of the Enquiry Services to the API Gateway will occur over a six-month window, starting in November 2026, with all users expected to complete the migration by April 2027. This is three months ahead of the new Enquiry Services becoming operational.
Shaping the long-term model: Dual-Fuel Service
A single Dual-Fuel Service will result in a more cost-effective solution, as it shares components and utilises a single dataset, where relevant, for long-term resilience. This includes:
- Broader use of retail energy location data: We’ll develop a framework to enable appropriately licensed REC Parties to access and use data for non-switching purposes.
- Enhancing the Secure Data Exchange Portal: We’ll implement an improved Secure Data Exchange Service, using industry feedback to make the portal more effective and user-friendly.
- Data accessibility and innovation: We’ll continue to explore secure and governed routes to make data more accessible to innovators.
- REC Changes: We anticipate REC Changes will be necessary before introducing the new Dual-Fuel Service. For example, to pass on improvements to Service Level Agreements, etc. We plan to implement these changes ahead of the new services going live, and they’ll be managed through the existing REC Change process.
Our focus remains on ensuring that the Enquiry Services continue to deliver for the market and consumers.
Find out more
We’ll keep you informed as this work progresses. If you’d like to share your perspective or find out more about our approach, please contact us at communications@retailenergycode.co.uk
