Smart Meter communication Licence Opportunity - Webinar Notification

This PIN is related to 2023/S 000-028912, published on 2 October 2023, which provided notice of Ofgem’s intention to undertake a competition to appoint a single Licensee to act as holder of the Smart Meter Communication Licences (under the Gas Act 1986 and the Electricity Act 1989).

The purpose of this PIN is to inform prospective applicants that Ofgem will be holding a Pre-Tender Market Engagement (PTME) event on Friday 8th November from 09:00-10:00 GMT.

Description of the Opportunity

The competition will be conducted pursuant to the Electricity and Gas (Competitive Tenders for Smart Meter Communication Licences) Regulations 2012. The Regulations can be found here: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/2414/conte… ↗

The opportunity is to operate the Smart Meter Communication Licence and manage the services currently being provided by the Licensee, Smart DCC Ltd (DCC). This includes procuring and managing communications and data services subcontractors, and providing the expected level of service to its users as defined in the licence and in relevant regulated industry codes.

The scope of tender is the same as outlined in PIN 2023/S 000-028912, however, Ofgem has now published a decision to extend the term of the current licence such that it will expire on 22 September 2027. Critically the core business should be conducted on a not-for-profit basis.

Event details

To help shape the opportunity and seek market feedback Ofgem is holding a Pre-Tender Market Engagement (PTME) event on Friday 8th November from 09:00 - 10:00 GMT.

The purpose of this PTME is to:

-Inform the market of the principles and objectives for the Licence procurement,

-Understand the capacity of the market to tender and possible risks involved,

-Understand the enablers and further information the market requires to decide to submit a bid,

-Understand what the markets requires from Ofgem throughout the tender process,

-Provide the market with an opportunity to ask questions, raise queries and identify any issues to be addressed at an early stage.

Joining the webinar

If you wish to attend the Webinar event on Friday 8th November 2024 from 09:00 - 10:00 (GMT) and are interested in applying for this future opportunity, please confirm interest via the following link, supplying the names, positions and email address of who will be attending on behalf of your organisation by no later than 17:00 (GMT) Wednesday 6th November 2024. Registration form link address: forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx ↗

A Webinar link to the event will be sent to all parties confirming interest at the above link, on Thursday 7th November 2024. The link will confirm which platform will be used, however, it is likely to be via Microsoft Teams.

If there are any issues with connecting on the day or you require any further information about the opportunity, please email dccregulation@ofgem.gov.uk in the first instance.

A further PIN will be published at a later date which will provide the details of the full scope of services the Successor Licensee must / can provide, the associated governance arrangements that will be put in place, and the cost control arrangements that the Successor Licensee will be subject to.

-Ofgem is currently consulting on a new regulatory model for DCC which will be implemented through changes to the Smart Meter Communication Licences. This work will inform the scope of the activities being tendered. Once decisions are finalised, Ofgem will 9detail the scope changes. Additional information: NB: Ofgem understands that not all suppliers may be able to attend at that time; consequently, the event will also be recorded and supplied to all interested parties.

A post-event feedback form will also be sent to all registered participants, even if they did not attend, which will be open for a week after the event