What is P272?
The Ofgem Balancing Settlement Code P272 changes the way that many UK businesses are charged for their electricity use. Under P272, energy use will be priced & billed on a half hourly basis.
Affected businesses must have their energy use metered with accredited, automated half-hourly electricity meters (which record & store the energy used in half hour periods), with the data sent directly to suppliers. Electricity bills must then be calculated against this half-hourly data.
If necessary the supplier must change the site electricity meter to meet the new requirements.
Affected companies must appoint a Meter Operator/Data collector who will maintain the meters, collect the half-hourly data and send it to the energy supplier.
Which companies are affected?
P272 applies to all companies (or individual sites within a company) in profile classes 05–08.
The site’s profile class can be identified using the Meter Point Administration Number (MPAN) which can be found on any electricity bill.
The profile class is shown as a two digit number in the upper-left section of the MPAN label (’00’ in the example above).
When will P272 be implemented?
Originally scheduled for implementation in April 2016, an amendment to the code (P322) changed this to split implementation into two stages;
a) site’s that already have accredited, automated half-hourly metering installed will be moved to half-hourly billing under P272 from 5th November 2015.
Supplier’s must move these site’s to half hourly billing/settlement within 45 days of customer acquisition or renewal of an existing contract
b) for all other site’s within profile classes 05 -08, the implementation date is extended to 1st April 2017.
For more information on P272, its requirements and implementation please see the following Ofgem websites: