Meter Timeswitch Codes (MTC) for electricity meters

Ildhund

mmmmikey said:

Academic interest or something more specific?

A bit of both, I suppose. I've been following the experiences of several RTS users in Scotland whose meters are being replaced. There are so many different threads to be woven together that it's a miracle any of the exchanges work. Some of those switching from THTC systems to more conventional tariffs like Economy 10 are seeing problems after an apparently successful meter exchange, and it's often difficult to spot precisely which strand is out of place. I wasn't aware before of the direct link between MTC and the associated SSC and TPRs, and I wanted to make sure that in cases where, for example, two MPANs had been replaced by a single one, it wasn't just because the supplier got the MTC or SSC or TPRs wrong. I saw one case where everything was right except that the TPRs were the wrong way round (Tier 1 offpeak instead of peak). That wouldn't matter so much except that DCC doesn't allow it. 

Bearing in mind how unbelievably complicated settlement in general is, as borne out by the Elexon site and its offshoots, you could write a DSc thesis on how to configure a smart meter.

Ildhund

mmmmikey said:

So if you're trying to establish timings from the MPAN I don't think you can. All you can do is to get a more basic level of information such as whether the meter is a single rate meter, economy 7, economy 10, etc.

It should be possible, at least to get close, so long as suppliers play the game according to the rules (big supposition!).

There is a 1-to-few relationship between SSC and TPR. An SSC covers one or more mutually-exclusive TPRs, which tell the meter when to switch registers (one thing it doesn't tell meters is to which tiers the TPRs should be applied, which can be critical). This is the engie table.

There is a relationship between SSCs and MPIDs, so each MPID has its own set, some elements of which may be shared with other MPIDs. This is one of the MDD tables whose name I've forgotten, sorry

There is also a list of SSCs which fit to a specific MTC - the MDD Valid_MTC_SSC_Combination files.

So, an MPAN belonging to a particular supplier has an MTC, but the associated SSC might (or more likely will) vary with DNO. The MPAN will give a specific DNO/MTC combination - in my case, for example, 11/808. Armed with this, I can look up the associated SSCs. In my case, there's only one: 0244, which the engie table tells me comprises TPRs 00040 (Weekdays & Weekends 0700-2400, Day) and 00206 (All days 0000-0700, Night).

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BSC Balancing and Settlement Code, the document that specifies how suppliers are charged for the electricity they sell to customers
DNO Distribution Network Operator, AKA LDSO, Licensed Distribution System Operator
GSP Grid Supply Point, a letter (e.g. _B = East Midlands) defining the extent of each DNOs area, more-or-less identical to the distribution area code (e.g. 11)
LLF Line Loss Factor, an element of the MPAN giving a code used to adjust settlement for factors like transmission losses
MDD Market Domain Data, Elexon's BSC repository of all the tables used for settlement
MPAN Meter Point Administration Number, the unique identifier for each electricity supply
MPID Market Participant ID, a four-letter identifier for each supplier and distributor
MTC Meter Timeswitch Class, the element of the MPAN that gives the timings of meter register changes
PC Profile Class, the element of the MPAN that gives the type of supply. Domestic supplies are either PC01 (single-rate) or PC02 (multi-rate)
SSC Standard Settlement Configuration, a set of TPRs that dictate when register changes take place
TPR Time Pattern Regime, a code giving the precise register change times

[Edited 2025-02-05 to add the key to all those abbreviations and acronyms] 

[For guidance on how RTS systems may be adapted to smart metering, see Radio Teleswitch - Standard Settlement Configuration Mapping - Elexon Digital BSC]

PhysicistC

Ildhund said:

There is also a list of SSCs which fit to a specific MTC - the MDD Valid_MTC_SSC_Combination files.

Thanks for this post, it provided the missing link that I hadn't quite found and so helps clear up the details of the evening&weekend tariff that we were on from the MTC given. I can confirm the that Elexon portal does allow sign ups to access the MDD documents.