Capacity Charge: a cost charged to electricity suppliers by Distribution Network Companies (DNO) based on a consumer’s highest (or peak) energy usage during a specified period. This is to guarantee the DNO has the capacity to meet a consumer’s peak usage at all times when it is needed. Capacity Charges are usually passed onto the end consumer by the supplier as part of their monthly electricity bill.
Current Transformer (CT) Meter: a specific type of electricity meter required to safely measure high electricity currents or currents at high voltage levels.
Data Collector (DC): a company or organisation responsible for collecting consumption data from an electricity meter. The DC is also responsible for passing the data collected to Data Aggregators (DA) which aggregate the individual EAC values for each supplier for provision to the industry.
Distribution Network Company (DNO): DNOs are companies licensed to distribute electricity throughout Great Britain’s electricity distribution network. There are 14 DNOs covering the whole of Great Britain.
Maximum Import Capacity (MIC): the maximum amount of electricity a consumer will use in any half hour in any day. Capacity is measured in kilovolt-amps (kVA) and the MIC is used to calculate the level of capacity charge payable to the DNO.
Meter Operator (MOP): a company or organisation responsible for installing and maintaining electricity meters in Great Britain. Every meter point in Great Britain is required to have a MOP appointed to it, either via an electricity supplier or directly by the end consumer.
Migration: the process by which a consumer will be transferred across from non-half-hourly settlement to half hourly settlement.
Migration Date: the date on which a consumer will be transferred across from non-half-hourly settlement to half hourly settlement.
Profile Class (es): the categories to which various types of customer are allocated by the electricity industry depending on their status (domestic/non-domestic), amount of electricity consumption and meter type.
Settlement: settlement is the industry balancing process that all electricity suppliers are required to undertake. Settlement is essentially the difference between the electricity the supplier has purchased on behalf of its customers and how much electricity its customers have actually consumed. These are known as Settled volumes.
Smart Meter: an electronic device capable of recording and remotely communicating how much electricity has been consumed in each half-hourly period.
