Who is affected by Triads?
The only customers affected by Triads – and, therefore, those who should be responding to our Triad Alerts – are those on a Half-Hourly Energy Only (or pass-through) contract.
Energy Only contracts provide greater transparency by separating the cost of energy from the cost of delivery. As a result, the distribution and transmission costs are passed-through and can change throughout the lifetime of the contract.
Businesses are therefore able to adapt their usage during the Triad points and cut their Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charges. The Business Energies Triad Alert Service issues daily alerts on the likelihood of the day being a Triad, offering customers advice on whether or not to take action to avoid high Triad charges.
Who is NOT affected by Triads?
TNUoS charges for all-inclusive half–hourly (HH) contracts and non-half-hourly (NHH) contracts are not invoiced separately with the costs included in the unit rates. Customers are not able to influence their transmission charges and, as a result, are not affected by Triads.
P272
P272 is new legislation that will affect customers with a Profile Class of 05-08. Suppliers are required to move affected sites within 45 days of customer acquisition or contract renewal. The deadline for moving customers is 1 April 2017.
Until such time as the contracts are renewed, customers will continue to be charged as they were before the introduction of P272.
Triad charges in the wake of P272
By 1 April 2017, the P272 legislation will leave all Profile Class 05-08 customers exposed to the same Transmission charges as those on HH contracts. However, there will be a period of adjustment as customers move across from NHH to HH metering intermittently, as and when their contracts expire.
Suppliers will be required to pass on any TNUoS costs accurately, and will not be able to do this until all the affected customers are switched and suppliers have enough historical data to calculate the charges.
While suppliers do not appear to be phasing in the Triad costs uniformly, most appear to be using an interim method by basing the charge around a proportion of a customer’s peak demand. For example, one supplier is levying the standard Triad £/kW rate, but on 85% of the customer’s peak demand.
It is important to remember that, even when P272 affected sites are in a position to have their TNUoS costs fully linked to the Triad methodology, the customer will still have the option of either an all-inclusive or Energy Only contract. If they were to choose an all-inclusive contract at that point they would not be affected by Triads, as shown in the model above.
