National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) has been held accountable for a £35 million error in energy settlements, the manager of the UK’s Balancing and Settlement Code has said.
Elexon noted that the issue arose when inaccurate estimated meter readings were allowed into the settlement process for two offshore transmission points.
These inaccuracies occurred due to a communication fault in the metering systems and National Grid ESO did not verify the estimates, leading to incorrect settlement volumes.
The error spans from April 2022 to June 2024.
The discrepancy was identified and corrected through a trading dispute and ongoing settlement adjustments.
The impact of the error between April and November 2022 was calculated to be approximately £13.8 million, while the error from November 2022 to June 2024 is estimated at £21.8 million.
Elexon, responsible for ensuring accurate and efficient settlements, made this error public under a policy of transparency for significant financial impacts.
The publication was approved by the BSC Panel in August 2024, to encourage better performance among BSC Parties.
An ESO spokesperson told Energy Live News: “We recognise that our performance as registrant on this site has not lived up to the usual expectations of performance of that role.
“Whilst no excuse this site is one of a handful related to the concept of embedded offshore transmission, where the arrangements are more complex than normal requiring interfaces with a number of parties.
“ESO have put in place procedures and arrangements to ensure improvement and to avoid this situation in the future”
