Ofgem 

is the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, regulating the Gas and Electricity markets in Great Britain. Ofgem's aim is to bring choice, value and better service to all gas and electricity consumers, through promoting competition and regulating monopoly organisations. This is achieved by ensuring that participants obtain and comply with appropriate Licences containing many obligations designed to protect the interests of consumers. These Licenses may also provide a hook into detailed ‘Industry Baseline’ documents maintained by Elexon (electricity sector), MRASCo (electricity sector) and SPAA Ltd (gas sector) by including a Licence Condition requiring accession (and consequently compliance) to them. These Industry Baseline documents collectively define the protocols and rules for achieving successful interoperability between different market participants. Ofgem is governed by the Gas & Electricity Markets Authority and its powers are provided for under the Gas Act 1986, the Electricity Act 1989 and the Utilities Act 2000.

Consumer Focus 

is the energy consumers’ champion. As the independent gas and electricity watchdog, their mission is to get the best deal they can for energy consumers. This includes providing free and impartial advice - and taking up individual cases on behalf of consumers who consider they have been treated unfairly, usually by their gas or electricity supplier. All market participants (especially suppliers) need to be cognisant of the work carried out by energywatch as they are a committed organisation with considerable resources and experience dedicated to representing the interests of individual consumers who have been adversely impacted by the actions, or failures to act, by individual market participants.

Elexon 

is the Balancing and Settlement Code Company (BSCCo) defined and created by the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC). The BSC also has subsidiary documents called Balancing and Settlement Code Procedures (BSCPs) and Party Service Lines (PSLs); these documents collectively comprise the electricity ‘Wholesale Baseline’. All licensed electricity companies are obliged to accede to the BSC and all market participants are required to comply with the many complex provisions of the Wholesale Baseline; this includes a requirement for new market entrants to be subjected to the Elexon Qualification Process. The BSC also places obligations on ELEXON who are, for example, required to facilitate a Change Control Process. This is achieved by the raising of individual Change Proposals often generated via discussions at Industry fora such as the Supplier Agent Forum (SAF).

MRASCo 

is the MRA Service Company Limited and was established in 1998 to be custodian of the Master Registration Agreement (MRA). The MRA has a number of subsidiary documents including the Data Transfer Catalogue (DTC), the End-To-End Diagrams, Working Practice Product Set (WPPS), MRA Agreed Procedures (MAPs) and MRA Guideline Documents (GDs); these documents collectively comprise the ‘Retail Baseline’. All licensed electricity suppliers and electricity distribution businesses are obliged to accede to the MRA; this includes a requirement for new market entrant suppliers and distribution businesses to be subjected to the MRA Qualification Process. Indeed, the majority of market participants are required to comply (sometimes as part of a ‘Supplier Hub’) with the many complex provisions of the Retail Baseline. The MRA also places obligations on MRASCo who are, for example, required to facilitate a Change Control Process. This is achieved by the raising of individual Change Proposals, typically by Industry Expert Groups for discussion/approval at the MRA Development Board (MDB).

SPAA Ltd 

is the Supply Point Administration Agreement Company and was established to be custodian of the Supply Point Administration Agreement (SPAA). The SPAA has a number of detailed schedules that collectively define many of the interoperability arrangements that exist between gas suppliers and their Supplier Hub Agents. Interestingly, unlike the Electricity Sector, not all of the rules and protocols defined with the Schedules to the SPAA are mandated. Some Schedules are ‘mandated’, some are ‘optional’ and some are ‘elective’. The first two of these is self explanatory; however, ‘elective’ is an interesting concept. In essence, individual participants voluntarily elect to be bound by the particular Schedule i.e. they volunteer to join a club of participating organisations for the mutual benefit of all those who have joined. All licensed domestic gas suppliers are obliged to accede to the SPAA.

ENA 

is the Energy Network Association and was launched on 1st October 2003 to provide a strategic focus for the energy networks sector. The ENA represents the major UK gas and electricity transmission and distribution licence holders. The stated ENA mission is to promote and enable the UK to have the safest, most reliable, efficient and sustainable energy networks in the world. Its vision is to exert influence successfully on common issues in the operating environment, including regulation and the wider policy framework, both at a domestic and European level to provide cost-efficient 'in common' technical services and related businesses for the benefit of members.

ERA 

is the Energy Retail Association and was established in October 2003. The ERA is the only dedicated trade association for GB energy suppliers. The “big six” energy suppliers operating in the domestic market in GB are members of the ERA; these being British Gas, EDF Energy, npower, Powergen, Scottish Power, and Scottish and Southern Energy.

Xoserve 

was founded on 1st May 2005, and is an integral part of the restructured gas distribution market in Britain, following the sale of several Local Distribution Zones (LDZs) by National Grid Company (NGC). By delivering transportation transactional services on behalf of all the major gas network transportation companies, Xoserve currently provides one consistent service point for the gas shipper community. Xoserve is jointly owned by the five major gas distribution Network companies and National Grid's gas transmission business. The five major gas transportation companies are National Grid, Northern Gas Networks, Scotland Gas Networks, Southern Gas Networks and Wales & West Utilities.

Electralink 

was established in 1998 to create a fast, reliable and secure electronic means of communicating data between participants in the competitive electricity market including settlement organisations, distribution businesses, suppliers and Supplier Hub agents. This requirement was met through the establishment of the Data Transfer Service (DTS). In 2004, Electralink replaced the underlying national network infrastructure with a new service built and provided by EDS. This service renewal allowed Electralink to take advantage of technology advances since 1998 and the new service provides Users with higher levels of security, reliability and speed of data transfer. All electricity market participants connect to the Data Transfer Network (DTN) via a ‘Gateway’. In this respect, individual market participants can choose one of three service offerings; a High Volume Gateway, a Low Volume Gateway or a Remote User Gateway (RUG). The type of gateway deployed will depend upon the volume (or anticipated volume) of dataflow traffic; the RUG option offers the most cost-effective market entry solution.

AMO 

is the Association of Meter Operators and represents metering organisations operating in the competitive gas and electricity metering markets. The AMO provides a forum for the exchange of information on all matters of relevance to Meter Operators. There are also regular meetings with wide ranging agendas and occasional seminars for specific subjects. A monthly Bulletin is published and regular reports are provided to Members about the activities of various Committees which impact on MO businesses. The AMO also represents Members interests by direct representation at Industry fora and input to debates by the production of (and response to) various industry papers.

WICS 

WICS (the Water Industry Commission for Scotland) is a non-departmental public body with statutory responsibilities. We act independently of Ministers. We are a small team of around 25 people, based in Stirling. Established in 2005, we took over responsibility for regulation of water and sewerage services from the former Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland.

CMA Scotland 

The Central Market Agency Ltd (CMA) is the organisation that administers the market for water and wastewater retail services in Scotland. The CMA keeps a record of which business customers are served by each retailer. It calculates the money owed to Scottish Water by each retailer in payment for the services used by that retailer’s customers.