Decision for access to half-hourly electricity data for settlement purposes

Decision

Publication date

Industry sector

Supply and Retail Market

In order to settle customers half-hourly, suppliers need access to their customers’ half-hourly data from their smart meter. Under the current rules, domestic consumers’ half-hourly consumption data can only be accessed for settlement if they have given opt-in consent, and suppliers can only access half-hourly data from microbusinesses for settlement if they have not opted-out. As part of our work on market-wide settlement reform we have been considering the future of these rules, as well as other issues related to data access for settlement. In July 2018 we published a consultation seeking views on a number of questions, in order to realise t the benefits of settlement reform whilst ensuring that consumers’ privacy is appropriately safeguarded. Alongside the consultation document we also published a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).

We have carefully considered the responses to our consultation and are now setting out our decisions, set out in this decision document. Alongside the decision document we are also publishing an updated version (version 2) of our DPIA, which reflects the decisions made following the consultation.