Regulatory Sandbox: Centrica
Decision
Publication date
Industry sector
- Supply and Retail Market
- Generation and Wholesale Market
About the Sandbox
As the Guidance explains, the Sandbox can support schemes operating in different parts of the regulated gas and electricity markets. It can enable trials (or pilots or demonstrators) that have to be done in a live energy environment, involving consumers or interacting with market rules or the physical system: the Sandbox can provide innovators with bespoke guidance, comfort and time-limited derogations (relief) from specific rules. For innovators considering market entry, the Sandbox can confirm (not an endorsement) that an activity is permissible, and, where a rule is blocking an innovation, potentially remove this by way of a derogation.
The range of activities that can be supported and the various tools at our disposal, mean that each Sandbox we grant will be bespoke, although we can expect common use-cases to emerge.
While the Sandbox has been designed to help innovators trial or bring to market new products, services or methodologies, our mission is to support and enable innovation more widely. To that end, all applicants to the Sandbox agree to surface and share knowledge and insights that can aid in this endeavour.
As this Sandbox supported scheme completes, evaluation and insights information will be added to this page.
Centrica Business Solutions UK Optimisation Ltd – Sandbox granted on 18 March 2022
Centrica and Glen Dimplex will test new methodologies that will enable flexibility from storage heaters to be traded in the Balancing Mechanism in circumstances where the supply to the premises is not half-hourly settled. The scheme will utilise arrangements made possible by BSC modification P375 (settlement behind-the-meter), and if successful will allow for significant volumes of high-quality latent flexibility to come to market ahead of market-wide half-hourly settlement reforms.
Scheme name: Trading non-half hourly settled domestic flexibility in the Balancing Mechanism.
Scheme type: Trial.
Business model category: Flexibility services.
Sandbox support provided: Temporary derogation from the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC).
Supporting documentation: Centrica – BSC sandbox derogation
Evaluation: Evaluation report due in August 2025.