The successfully introduction of Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) requires changes to made to the systems and processes governed by other codes outside of the BSC, including the REC. Elexon as the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) and Ofgem as the Programme Sponsor for the MHHS programme need assurance that all programme participants will support the implementation of the programme and deliver against the approved timetable. While there is a general ‘duty to cooperate’ with Significant Code Reviews that exists for licenced parties, there is no explicit legal requirement for RECCo (as a non-BSC Party) to support this and no contractual recourse if its duties are not met.

The Data Specification was not included in the Switching Programme Change Requests that gave effect to REC V2.0. Therefore, the Data Specification was not formally designated as part of REC V2.0 and has temporarily been added to the REC Baseline Statement as a Category 3 product. This means that changes to the Data Specification, including changes to Market Messages and Data Items used by market participants to interface with other businesses and service providers, are not subject to the process set out in the REC Change Management Schedule. Changes to these artefacts can have significant impacts to the systems and processes of market participants and service providers. These changes should follow a robust and thorough assessment to ensure these impacts are identified and considered, and the most appropriate solution is considered. The Category 3 change process is not appropriate for this, as changes to Category 3 products should not cause a material impact to parties and stakeholders.

SEC Modification Proposal 077 proposes to update the values, and business rules, of the DCC Service Flag Data Item. This will allow users to use the Data Item as originally intended, to establish whether there is an active smart meter in the DCC network that they can communicate with at a premises. This modification has been approved for implementation on 4th November 2021 by the SEC, and a consequential change is required to the Data Specification to reflect this.