ElectraLink and ICoSS have rewritten and relaunched Version 6 of the Industrial and Commercial Code of Practice (I&C CoP). This revised Code of Practice incorporates comments from business shippers and suppliers gathered during the recent consultation period. The Code of Practice was established in 2013 to tackle and resolve common customer transfer issues, suppliers and shippers face in the I&C gas market. In 2017, the ICoSS Executive commissioned ElectraLink to update the I&C CoP which had not been maintained for some time. This work was completed in February 2018 and the updated I&C CoP has been published here.
Since inception until 2013 the I&C CoP was managed by the Gas Forum, with signatories and contact details being maintained under this guise until the Gas Forum disbanded. This Code of Practice has been migrated to ICoSS, however has not been republished since 2013. ElectraLink’s review considered changes to retail energy regulation in recent years including; Project Nexus, implementation of new Funding and Governance Arrangements for Nexus; UNC Modifications, SPAA Change Proposals and the disbanding of the Gas Forum.
The new Code of Practice includes revised governance provisions, a robust change management procedure, a process for managing disputes and breaches and clarity on the role of the secretariat. In addition, the operational requirements have been updated to reflect the current industry arrangements.
The new I&C CoP now includes:
- • Final billing and credit arrangements;
• Back billing provisions;
• Information relating to read replacement following the implementation of Project Nexus;
• Revised calculations for inter shipper disputes reflecting the differing calculations for late transfers, erroneous transfers and failure to input shipper agreed reads; and
• A clause requiring adherence to the Retail Gas Metering Arrangements (RGMA) in SPAA.
The new I&C Code of Practice is available here.