Service Head Query

[Stoday]

Erm —

A slow meter won't cost the DNO, it'll cost your supplier. Even if the DNO and supplier are in the same group (such as EDF), supplier and DNO remain separate companies with separate accounts.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing, but I'm wondering how this works given that multiple suppliers use the same DNO network, presumably the suppliers 'put in' financially a contribution on the basis of how much their customers have 'used', so if they're being undermetred then while yes the supplier loses the profit they would have made on the non charged electricity, surely the DNO loses the actual cost of providing that electricity?

Obviously, on an individual basis its chump change to a DNO, but I guess it could add up if its happening regularly?

The DNO has no electricity, so it can't balance out consumers' demands with suppliers' generation. That's the job of Elexon, the balancing and settlements company. http://www.elexon.co.uk/

Supplies and demands are balanced every half-hour. Consumers whose demand is over 100kW have half-hour meters to do this. Smaller consumers' half hour demands are estimated from annual consumption estimates and profiles consisting of 17,520 half-hour demands for eight consumer types.

The balance thus calculated is just an initial estimate but a 24 hour ahead forecast of this is used to call for generation. Settlement of costs occurs later when a better balance is made to enable monthly bills. A final settlement is made even later when the meter readings of smaller consumers are known and the initial monthly bills are corrected.

Suppliers have to provide enough electricity to cover their sales and the associated losses. Any excess or deficit is pooled and charged between suppliers by Elexon.

Elexon's web site has a full description in PDF files of how it all works. Click