There will be no getting away from the roll-out of HH (Half-Hourly) settled meters that is being enforced by Great Britain’s energy regulator Ofgem.
Metering is changing for a huge number of businesses and organisations in the UK and will be backed up by legislation, which has set out a concise time-frame for action.
How energy usage is measured will be driven by greater visibility of data, with billing becoming more regular and precise. Sketchy consumption periods, monthly and quarterly, are being phased out.
Ofgem has taken this decision to ensure that energy use is properly accounted for, in line with the government’s Net Zero and sustainability targets.
With that, the Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) programme takes effect. There is no longer an option to place NHH (Non Half-Hourly) meters.
Going forward, all metering installations will be HH (Half-Hourly) settled compatible, with 52 per cent of all non-domestic meters currently being smart devices. This figure is now certain to rise.
What differs between NHH, HH, advanced and smart meters?
HH/NHH AMR meters and Smart meters possess the technology to record half-hourly consumption data, both of which satisfy the new settlement requirements in MHHS.
SMETS (Smart Metering Equipment Technical Specifications) are Smart meters that transmit through a secure communication network, the DCC (Data Communication Company).
Supplies under 100kVA have tended to be NHH (Non Half-Hourly) metered, under the P272 balancing and settlement code. The new mandate, P432, replaces those guidelines.
NHH meters are supplied on daily, monthly and quarterly tariffs, but are becoming outdated. For those that are unsure which meter is in place, an ‘00’ in the top left-hand box is HH.
NHH Traditional meters can be upgraded to have AMR installed, but the government are actively pushing for all meters in the UK to have smart capabilities (SMETS meters).
Both meter types offer a reduction in engineer resource required to manually collect energy data from meters.
NHH and HH are both regarded as settlement types, but segmentation in MHHS will instead be by meter types in Advanced, Smart and Unmetered.
AMR (Automated Meter Reader) devices will play a key role in the transition, as they provide HH consumption data and can be installed on NHH and Gas meters also.
Who will collect, aggregate and validate data from metering?
The Registration Service manages information about who owns and uses supply points.
The Data Integration Platform replaces the old Data Transfer Network as an online platform which allows suppliers, data and metering agents to communicate about meter faults, appointments and more..
The MOP and DC will be renamed and restructured. There will be an 18-month migration window, for every supply in the UK being de-appointed from their current MOP and DC/DA agents, to then reappointed with the new MHHS terminology and accredited roles.
The Meter Operator will then be referred to a Metering Service and the Data Collector becomes a Data Service.
This will be segmented into three subcategories, depending on whether the meter is Advanced (AMR installed), Smart (SMETS 1,2 or a NHH Traditional meter installed) or is Unmetered (Street lighting, zebra crossings).
Data Aggregation will also now be known as the Market-wide Data Service (MDS), a role that Elexon will perform moving forward.
The Meter Data Retrieval (MDR) is a role that is being created, under MHHS, which will allow for data collection without the need for supplier input. This will make for easier retrieval of energy data from most meters
How many meters is this going to affect?
There will be 30 million meters moving over to the new MHHS Target Operating model, with 2.6 million of these meters being from the Industrial and Commercial Market, although a high proportion are already capable of HH settled metering and data collection.
Of those 2.6 million meters, action is still required on 900,000 meters which are NHH Traditional meters to make them compatible, with the rest all being digital. Around 30,000 are Unmetered.
The UK market size for SMETS and NHH Traditional meters, for domestic and microbusiness customers, is 95.7 per cent, with data and metering services taking centre stage.
Advanced metering, for I & C (Industrial and Commercial) and SME businesses, makes up 4.24 per cent of the marketplace, which is a two-way communication process.
When is the deadline for these changes?
If your existing meter isn’t HH, AMR, or Smart (SMETS), it will have to be upgraded ahead of MHHS migration which starts in April 2025. The timeline for how the programme will develop is as follows: –
2023/2025 – System Integration Testing for a group of industry participants.
April 2024 – Under P432, all new NHH CT connections will now be HH.
December 2024 – Suppliers expected to slow down mass agent appointments.
April 2025 – This is when MHHS migration begins.
March 2026 – All sites migrated/meters replaced/converted to HH.
How can Consultus help with this process?
The Consultus International Group are putting a framework in place, with a provider, to make the transition seamless for clients, by expanding upon current capabilities.
Upgrades, installations and conversions can be covered, in an end-to-end process, along with any software requirements that may be required.
Consultus’ metering team can negotiate with suppliers, to gain favourable rates, and project manage any changes, along with handling installations, without impacting on productivity.
Consultus can also offer myEnergy, our exclusive and award-winning online portal that can house and track all cost and consumption data.
The earlier that we become involved, the easier this transition will become, for clients, and our metering team are experienced in processing HH data.
Suppliers are expected to move away from any big shifts in portfolio, from December, and fines could even be introduced for non-compliance.
The events mentioned in this blog have been three years in the making and could change again, but Consultus will continue to guide clients through alterations to the process.
Do you want to learn more about the metering solutions that we offer? To contact us, call 0330 808 0866, fill out an enquiry form or utilise the live webchat.