By 1 April 2017 all customers with a meter Profile Class 05 to 08 (also known as Maximum Demand sites), and an Advanced Meter Reading (AMR) meter installed will need to be settled half hourly

What is P272 and who does it affect?

By 1 April 2017 all customers with a meter Profile Class 05 to 08 (also known as Maximum Demand sites), and an Advanced Meter Reading (AMR) meter installed will need to be settled half hourly.

P272 is a proposal to change the Balancing and Settlement Code in order to make settlement more accurate. The change will affect an estimated 160,000 meters across the UK.

Why is P272 happening?

P272 means that the industry should use half hourly data for ‘settlement’ in order to improve accuracy. It will also help distributors better understand electricity usage, so that they can make sure networks are maintained appropriately.

‘Settlement’ refers to how suppliers match, and pay for the energy consumed by customers, to the energy purchased on their behalf.

For non-half hourly sites, consumption is profiled across the industry, based on what a typical customer in a relevant Profile class uses. This means that suppliers must obtain meter readings before they can ‘settle’ based on actual consumption.

For half-hourly sites, the meters record consumption every half an hour, rather than waiting for meter readings. This means suppliers can settle their consumption based upon actual usage, and be able to offer pricing and products that reflect half-hourly costs and consumption more closely in the future.