Regulatory Sandbox: Good Energy
Decision
Publication date
Company
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.
We may decline to provide sandbox support where we judge it might provide an unfair advantage to a project, conflict with our responsibilities, or where we’re not persuaded that the trial is necessary.
Good Energy – decision published 27 January 2023
Utilising smart meters, Good Energy is developing the means to pay Feed-in Tariff (FIT) customers for the actual electricity they export, instead of a deemed payment based on the amount they generate. Where Good provides export services but is not the consumer’s import supplier, it wants to use its own supplier agents rather than those of the import supplier. The trial would test new industry procedures to facilitate the use of different agents.
Scheme name: Smart export service for microgeneration.
Scheme type: Trial.
Business model category: Specialist retail services: innovative tariff.
Sandbox support requested: Temporary derogations from the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC) and Retail Energy Code (REC) that require the same supplier agents (Metering Equipment Manager (MEM) and Data Collector (DC)) are used when shared metering equipment is utilised by suppliers for the purposes of recording import and export. Specifically, derogations were sought from BSC Section J (4.1.5 and 4.1.6), and REC Schedule 14 (2.4 and 2.5).
Rejection rationale: We can see potential efficiencies to be had from an export supplier using its own agents rather than those of the consumer’s import supplier. However, we are not persuaded that a trial is necessary, and believe these benefits would be better realised by Good Energy raising modifications to the BSC and REC.
Supporting documentation: Good Energy – sandbox decision letter