Half-hourly meters are now actively used by businesses that fall under the P272 legislation, introduced in 2015. Furthermore, the implementation of the nationwide Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) programme, along with Ofgem’s recent approval for advanced current transformer (CT) meters to transition to a half-hourly settlement ahead of the original timeline, is making these systems even more mainstream nowadays.
In this piece, we dwell on how half-hourly meters benefit large businesses and industries and distil the specifics behind charges and rates. Most importantly, we’ll explore why advanced meter reading and billing make it all a success.
Half-Hourly Meters and the Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) Programme
The UK’s electricity industry is undergoing a significant transformation with the implementation of the Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) programme. This initiative aims to revolutionize how electricity is settled by utilising actual half-hourly data instead of estimated profiling. This shift will decrease the settlement window from 14 months to four months, providing more accurate and timely data for both consumers and utilities.
Half-hourly meters are crucial to the MHHS programme because they provide the necessary granularity of data to enable more accurate settlements. They record electricity usage at half-hourly intervals, allowing for precise measurement and billing based on actual consumption rather than estimates. This accuracy is essential for creating responsive tariffs and managing electricity demand more effectively.
Related:
Half-Hourly Settlement: Is Your Utility Business ‘Reform-Able’?
The Advantages of Half-Hourly Meters Explained for Large Businesses
Accurate Billing: Half-hourly meters provide real-time data, which helps utility billing software calculate actual electricity usage. This eliminates the inaccuracies associated with estimated profiling.
Responsive Tariffs: The data from half-hourly meters enables the creation of truly reflective pricing models, such as time-of-use (ToU) tariffs. These tariffs can vary prices based on the actual cost of generation and demand, encouraging consumers to adjust their usage patterns to reduce costs and grid strain.
Demand Management: With accurate consumption data, utilities can better manage and balance electricity demand. This is particularly important as the UK transitions to more renewable energy sources, which can be intermittent and require flexible demand management.
Energy Efficiency: Consumers can gain insights into their electricity usage patterns, allowing them to make informed decisions about energy consumption and efficiency improvements.
Grid Optimisation: The precise data from half-hourly meters helps in optimizing the electricity grid, reducing the need for excess capacity and infrastructure investments. This is crucial given the forecasted increase in electricity demand due to electrification of transport and heating.
Comparison to Other Meters
Compared to traditional meters, half-hourly meters offer several advantages:
Granularity: Traditional meters often record data less frequently, leading to less accurate billing and settlement. Half-hourly meters provide more detailed data, which is essential for modern energy management, and the energy billing system makes billing the most accurate.
Timeliness: Traditional settlement processes can take months, whereas half-hourly data enables a much shorter settlement period, improving the efficiency of the electricity market.
Cost Reflectiveness: Traditional meters and tariffs often do not reflect the true cost of electricity generation at specific times. Half-hourly meters enable pricing that is more closely aligned with actual generation costs, encouraging better consumption patterns.
Relevant Pricing and Tariffs: With the introduction of half-hourly meters, pricing and tariffs can be more dynamic and reflective of actual electricity costs
Time-of-Use (ToU) Tariffs: These tariffs can be tailored to reflect the actual cost of electricity during different times of the day, encouraging consumers to shift their usage to off-peak periods.
Demand Side Response (DSR): Half-hourly data enables more effective demand side response programs, where consumers are incentivized to reduce or shift their usage during peak demand periods to balance the grid and avoid high costs.
Real-Time Pricing: Consumers can benefit from real-time pricing models that adjust rates based on the current demand and supply conditions, providing opportunities for cost savings and grid stability.
Charges Types and Rates of Half Hourly Meter Readings
Here’s the thing: half-hourly meters are traditionally associated with higher costs compared to standard ones. Thus, standing charges can be higher for customers. But since the reporting is more frequent, every 30 minutes, which affects the accuracy of billing, at the end of the day, businesses can avoid expensive estimated bills.
Besides, half-hourly electricity meters are tailored for organizations with high energy consumption, as the added expense of these devices is relatively minimal compared to their overall energy bills.
At MaxBill, we help calculate two types of half hourly meter: Whole Current (WC) meters and Current Transformer (CT) meters, so standing and capacity charges accordingly.
Those having CT meters can check their capacity charge on their electricity bills. If businesses consume more than they secured with their supplier, they will see “Excess Capacity Charge” on the bill.
So, what are the capacity charges for half-hourly meters?
These charges are fees that ensure sufficient energy supply to meet the customer’s peak demand. The amount of the capacity charge is determined through an agreement between the customer and the local Distribution Network Operator (DNO).
The threshold that dictates the capacity charge is known as the kVA Allowance. This allowance is the agreed-upon level of energy reserved for the customer based on their anticipated maximum usage. The DNO allocates this energy capacity, ensuring it is available when needed, and the capacity charge appears on the customer’s energy bill.
All customers using half-hourly meters must pay meter operator (MOP) fees. The Meter Operator handles the installation and upkeep of these meters, and the MOP charge compensates them for these services. These fees are detailed in a MOP contract, which can be organized either through your energy supplier or directly by the customer.
Half-hourly meters can have two rates.
Certain energy tariffs include separate rates for day and night. The night rate is generally lower than the day rate. This pricing structure is designed to encourage customers to distribute their energy usage more evenly throughout the day, thereby reducing strain on the grid.
A Comprehensive Meter Reading Management Solution Makes It All a Success
Without diving into technicalities, let us outline the top 10 principles that highlight MaxBill’s comprehensive approach to managing and billing meter readings. We’ll be emphasising accuracy, traceability, and flexibility in handling various scenarios.
- Access to Reading Data:
- Reading data and manipulations can be accessed via both GUI and API. Historical reading data for customers and service points are available through a RESTful API.
- System-wide Readings Management:
- The system provides a GUI for monitoring reading history and performing reading manipulations, ensuring comprehensive oversight and control.
- Traceability and Logging:
- The system logs the processing results for each reading, enabling end-users to understand the processing steps and identify any errors that need attention.
- Reading Amendment:
- The system supports reading amendments via a specific method and allows various actions like invalidate, rollback, force, rawReset, reValidate, and reSync. Each amendment action is logged with a specific attribute for traceability.
- Deferred Update of Readings:
- When a customer is in the billing generation process, update requests for readings are deferred until billing activities are completed to prevent billing disruption.
- Reading Reassessment:
- The system re-processes existing readings if there’s a change in the reading history due to new readings or amendments. This includes reassessment of final reads during the change of tenancy process.
- Estimation Algorithms:
- The system generates estimated readings for billing gaps or consumption validation using various algorithms, including average reads and thermal curves, ensuring accurate consumption estimates.
- Thermal Curve Usage:
- For specific utilities like gas and electricity, the system uses thermal curve profiles to forecast consumption based on dynamic coefficient patterns, tailored to rate plans.
- Gas Estimation Specifics:
- The system converts gas consumption from kWh to meter units (cubic meters or cubic feet) based on calorific value and correction factors, ensuring precise measurement conversions.
- Usage Groups:
- Static consumption patterns (usage groups) define average consumption for customer groups, allowing estimation when no real readings are available. This method includes periodic validation against real annual average usage to maintain accuracy.
Related:
Smart Meter in Europe 2024-2030 to Transform Utilities and Empower Consumers.
