I’m pleased to report that on 18th July 2022, the new switching systems and processes were implemented.
Like any go-live of this size and scale, there have been some teething issues but, based on direct feedback that I’ve received from parties, the initial implementation is perceived to have gone well.
All credit and thanks to the REC Parties and all our colleagues at Ofgem, DCC, the REC Code Manager, C&C Group and Xoserve and other partner organisations who have helped to make it happen. This is a significant first step for industry in delivering a much better, faster and more reliable switching service for customers.
For all of us involved, it is only a first step and could not have come at a better time with customers’ satisfaction of retail energy switching being at an all-time low - as reported by the recent Consumer Perceptions survey by Ofgem/Citizen’s Advice (see p21, Ofgem report Consumer Perceptions of the Energy Market Q1 2022). Let’s continue to work together over the coming months to deliver the full benefits of the switching programme for consumers.
We have now entered the Post Implementation Period of the Switching Programme. During this time, at RECCo and the Code Manager, we will be supporting the programme and monitoring the implementation of the new arrangements through to the end of the End-to-end Cutover and Approach Plan (ECAP) and Programme Exit phase to ensure service and system stability.
In parallel, we will be looking for achievement of the Acceptance Criteria which will enable formal governance of switching to transfer from the Switching Programme to the Retail Energy Code (REC), a significant milestones for the evolution of the REC and a major milestone in RECCo’s Forward Work Plan (FWP) for 2022/23.
Although much of our focus over recent months has been concentrated on the Switching Programme, we’ve continued to make considerable progress in other areas.
As part of delivering against one of RECCo’s strategic aims to further consolidate and simplify retail energy market arrangements, our Metering Code of Practice Consolidation Review is nearing completion with the consolidated drafting being progressed under the REC Change Process.
RECCo has also begun the work to tender the provision of audit services for the consolidated Metering Codes of Practice under the REC. RECCo will be holding a market engagement session with interested service providers in early August so please contact the team to express your interest if you haven’t done so already.
In other areas, the team is working to ensure the rest of our FWP workstreams is being effectively delivered and milestones are being met. RECCo is actively supporting the delivery of the Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) programme to ensure the impacts on the REC and REC services are understood and considered.
The programme is now entering the final stages of its design phase, with all design artefacts expecting to be published to industry for review by end of July. REC Party input will be required to support this work and in this newsletter we provide details of a new informal REC Party advisory group we are looking to establish to support RECCo’s MHHS project team.
I’d like to finally introduce two new team members to you this past month. Pete Davies joins us as our new Data, Technology and Transformation Director and Katie Taafe as our Enquiry Services Manager. Both Pete and Katie will bring invaluable knowledge and skills to the team and you can find out more about their roles at RECCo in future newsletter editions.
I hope you enjoy this month's edition of the RECCo newsletter.
As always, if you have any suggestions on how we can better engage with you as our stakeholders please email the team at communications@retailenergycode.co.uk.
RECCo has been working with the Code Manager to develop the requirements for digital dashboards within the REC Portal to enable REC Parties to review and understand their own organisations performance in relation to the REC Performance Assurance Framework (PAF). Following the development of requirements, agile delivery of the dashboard solution begins in August. PAB members have been invited to participate in the testing of the dashboards throughout development and we are grateful to the PAB members who have already offered to support us. We will provide further updates on the anticipated rollout of the dashboards to Parties in due course. If you have any questions on this project please contact the team at info@retailenergycode.co.uk.
