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Elec Change of Supply - the industry process
Various posts query why the electricity change of supplier process takes so long or goes wrong. To help everyone understand who and what are involved I thought I would post a simplified explanation of the process.
Who is involved:
Suppliers (old & new)
MPAS – Meter Point Administration Service – Registration service, one per Distribution area. Can be determined from 1st 2 digit of MPAN (Meter Point Admin No, 13 digit number found on your bill)
Data Collector (old & new) – also referred to DC – this is the organisation that reads and validates your meter reading before providing it to the supplier.
Meter Operator (old & new) – also referred to MO or MOP – this is the organisation that installs and maintains your meter and provides information to supplier, data collector and distributor.
Data Aggregator (old & new) – also referred to DA - this is the organisation that ‘adds up’ all a supplier’s consumption in an area.
What is involved:
1) New Supplier sends registration request to MPAS quoting supply start date – this can either be accepted or rejected.
2) MPAS sends details of site and old supplier & his agents to New Supplier.
3) MPAS notifies Old Supplier that New Supplier is trying to take over supply.
4) Old Supplier has 5 working days to object.
5) New Supplier appoints New Agents (DC, MOP and DA) – agents can reject appointment.
6) New Agents send acceptance to New Supplier.
7) New Supplier tells the New Agents who each other are.
8) Old Supplier de-appoints Old Agents (DC, MOP and DA).
9) New MOP requests meter details from Old MOP.
10) Old MOP sends meter details to New MOP.
11) New MOP sends meter details to New Supplier and DC.
12) New DC requests meter reading history from Old DC.
13) Old DC sends meter reading history to New DC.
14) New DC matches up meter details and meter reading history.
15) New Supplier sends customer’s change of supplier reading to New DC.
16) New DC validates reading and produces estimate if reading fails validation.
17) New DC sends change of supplier reading to New Supplier and Old DC.
18) Old DC sends change of supplier reading to Old Supplier.
19) Old Supplier sends final bill to customer.
20) New Supplier stores change of supplier reading to use as opening reading on first bill.
At any time with 12 months of change of supply , the customer or either supplier can dispute the reading used as the change of supplier reading.
Who is involved:
Suppliers (old & new)
MPAS – Meter Point Administration Service – Registration service, one per Distribution area. Can be determined from 1st 2 digit of MPAN (Meter Point Admin No, 13 digit number found on your bill)
Data Collector (old & new) – also referred to DC – this is the organisation that reads and validates your meter reading before providing it to the supplier.
Meter Operator (old & new) – also referred to MO or MOP – this is the organisation that installs and maintains your meter and provides information to supplier, data collector and distributor.
Data Aggregator (old & new) – also referred to DA - this is the organisation that ‘adds up’ all a supplier’s consumption in an area.
What is involved:
1) New Supplier sends registration request to MPAS quoting supply start date – this can either be accepted or rejected.
2) MPAS sends details of site and old supplier & his agents to New Supplier.
3) MPAS notifies Old Supplier that New Supplier is trying to take over supply.
4) Old Supplier has 5 working days to object.
5) New Supplier appoints New Agents (DC, MOP and DA) – agents can reject appointment.
6) New Agents send acceptance to New Supplier.
7) New Supplier tells the New Agents who each other are.
8) Old Supplier de-appoints Old Agents (DC, MOP and DA).
9) New MOP requests meter details from Old MOP.
10) Old MOP sends meter details to New MOP.
11) New MOP sends meter details to New Supplier and DC.
12) New DC requests meter reading history from Old DC.
13) Old DC sends meter reading history to New DC.
14) New DC matches up meter details and meter reading history.
15) New Supplier sends customer’s change of supplier reading to New DC.
16) New DC validates reading and produces estimate if reading fails validation.
17) New DC sends change of supplier reading to New Supplier and Old DC.
18) Old DC sends change of supplier reading to Old Supplier.
19) Old Supplier sends final bill to customer.
20) New Supplier stores change of supplier reading to use as opening reading on first bill.
At any time with 12 months of change of supply , the customer or either supplier can dispute the reading used as the change of supplier reading.
IT Consultant in the utilities industry specialising in the retail electricity market.
4 Credit Card and 1 Loan PPI claims settled for £26k, 1 rejected (Opus).
4 Credit Card and 1 Loan PPI claims settled for £26k, 1 rejected (Opus).
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Comments
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Various posts query why the electricity change of supplier process takes so long or goes wrong. To help everyone understand who and what are involved I thought I would post a simplified explanation of the process.
Who is involved:
Suppliers (old & new)
MPAS – Meter Point Administration Service – Registration service, one per Distribution area. Can be determined from 1st 2 digit of MPAN (Meter Point Admin No, 13 digit number found on your bill)
Data Collector (old & new) – also referred to DC – this is the organisation that reads and validates your meter reading before providing it to the supplier.
Meter Operator (old & new) – also referred to MO or MOP – this is the organisation that installs and maintains your meter and provides information to supplier, data collector and distributor.
Data Aggregator (old & new) – also referred to DA - this is the organisation that ‘adds up’ all a supplier’s consumption in an area.
What is involved:
1) New Supplier sends registration request to MPAS quoting supply start date – this can either be accepted or rejected.
2) MPAS sends details of site and old supplier & his agents to New Supplier.
3) MPAS notifies Old Supplier that New Supplier is trying to take over supply.
4) Old Supplier has 5 working days to object.
5) New Supplier appoints New Agents (DC, MOP and DA) – agents can reject appointment.
6) New Agents send acceptance to New Supplier.
7) New Supplier tells the New Agents who each other are.
8) Old Supplier de-appoints Old Agents (DC, MOP and DA).
9) New MOP requests meter details from Old MOP.
10) Old MOP sends meter details to New MOP.
11) New MOP sends meter details to New Supplier and DC.
12) New DC requests meter reading history from Old DC.
13) Old DC sends meter reading history to New DC.
14) New DC matches up meter details and meter reading history.
15) New Supplier sends customer’s change of supplier reading to New DC.
16) New DC validates reading and produces estimate if reading fails validation.
17) New DC sends change of supplier reading to New Supplier and Old DC.
18) Old DC sends change of supplier reading to Old Supplier.
19) Old Supplier sends final bill to customer.
20) New Supplier stores change of supplier reading to use as opening reading on first bill.
At any time with 12 months of change of supply , the customer or either supplier can dispute the reading used as the change of supplier reading.
Add to this considerable administrative process the cost of incentives, advertising etc and you see why the cost of loosing and gaining a customer is in the £100's (Used to be estimated at £380).
This cost has been mentioned by Customer Focus who have some concerns about it.0 -
Perhaps this could be made a sticky? Very good explanation Spiro.Self Employed, Running my Dream Jobs0
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Thought I would add a couple of corrections as I feel picky!
> MPAS – Meter Point Administration Service – Registration service, one per Distribution area. Can be determined from 1st 2 digit of MPAN (Meter Point Admin No, 13 digit number found on your bill)
The mpan is a S and 21 digits. The improtant 13 digit bit is known as the mpan corem or bottom line. It should be printed in full on the bill in full so knowing the full way might help people.
Distribution area can only be guess from the fiurst 2 digits of the mpan core around 99% of the time now! Thanks to open competiton (you know the thing that means more agents and more mistakes) some distribution companies now work outside their traditional areas, particularly southern (20), and there are also new distributers that work in some regions (eg 26).
Sorry to blather on!
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Distribution Area to MPAS is 100% and can be from 1st 2 digit of MPAN Core. If Southern operate in the London area they will still iissue MPANs starting in 20. What is no longer 100% is MPAN to GSP Group (Grid Supply Point Group) - wont bore you with what that is.Thought I would add a couple of corrections as I feel picky!
> MPAS – Meter Point Administration Service – Registration service, one per Distribution area. Can be determined from 1st 2 digit of MPAN (Meter Point Admin No, 13 digit number found on your bill)
The mpan is a S and 21 digits. The improtant 13 digit bit is known as the mpan corem or bottom line. It should be printed in full on the bill in full so knowing the full way might help people.
Distribution area can only be guess from the fiurst 2 digits of the mpan core around 99% of the time now! Thanks to open competiton (you know the thing that means more agents and more mistakes) some distribution companies now work outside their traditional areas, particularly southern (20), and there are also new distributers that work in some regions (eg 26).
Sorry to blather on!IT Consultant in the utilities industry specialising in the retail electricity market.
4 Credit Card and 1 Loan PPI claims settled for £26k, 1 rejected (Opus).0
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