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Guidance Notes

CONTENTS

Overview of Trading Charge Invoices

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Overview of Trading Charge Invoices

Guidance Note

This document covers:

    • What Advice Notes, Backing Sheets and Confirmation Notices are;

    • When and how they will be delivered; and

    • Guidance on how they should be read.

What are Advice Notes, Backing Sheets and Confirmation Notices?

Advice Notes, backing sheets and Confirmation Notices are sent to you by the Funds Administration Agent (FAA).

    • An Advice Note details the Trading Charges, Default Charges and/or ad-hoc charges that you accrued since your last Advice Note. The Advice Note details the date you must pay these charges by (the Payment Date). It is not your Tax Invoice.

    • Backing Sheets provide a breakdown of your Trading Charges, Default Charges and/or ad-hoc charges (where such charges exist). For Trading and Ad-Hoc Charges, each backing sheet will relate to a line item on your Advice Note. A Default Charge backing sheet may detail several line items on your Advice Note.

    • A Confirmation Notice is issued to you once you pay the Trading Charges, Default Charges and/or ad-hoc charges detailed on your Advice Note. The document confirms payment and will provide details of the Advice Note to which it relates and acts as your Tax Invoice.

How are these documents delivered?

You will receive your Advice Notes, Confirmation Notices and backing sheets by email. The subject line of the email will distinguish whether the email contains an Advice Note, Confirmation Notice or a backing sheet.

If you experience technical problems with your email service, please contact the BSC Service Desk on 0870 010 6950 to warn them that the electronic delivery of Advice Notes, Confirmation Notices and backing sheets may fail, and to set up alternative arrangements.

When do I get my Advice Notes?

The FAA will only send you an Advice Note:

        • When the sum of your Trading Charges, Default Charges and/or ad-hoc charges exceeds the Advice Note Threshold Limit;

        • On a Quarter Date; or

        • Under certain exceptional circumstances, such as if your Party is withdrawing from the BSC, is a Defaulting Party or has changed its VAT status.

The Advice Note Threshold Limit is set at £500. The BSC Panel will occasionally review this. The FAA will send you an Advice Note when you accumulate an amount that you owe or are owed which exceeds, or is equal to, this Threshold Limit. Therefore, the frequency that you receive Advice Notes will depend on your business.

Quarter Dates refer to the quarterly VAT period end dates at the end of March, June, September and December. The FAA will issue you with an Advice Note for each Quarter Date, regardless of the monetary Advice Note Threshold Limit or whether an Advice Note was previously triggered within the quarter. If the last day of the quarter falls on a non working day, your Advice Note will be issued to you on the last working day of the quarter.

When do I get my Backing Sheets?

When you incur Trading Charges, Default Charges and/or ad-hoc charges on a calendar Payment Date, you will receive a separate backing sheet for each of these. Where such charges exist, backing sheets will be sent out for:

    • Each calendar Payment Date in the case of Trading Charges;

    • Each Calendar Payment date in the case of Ad-Hoc charges; and

    • With your Advice Note in the case of Default Charges (i.e. when either the time or monetary Threshold is breached or overridden). Please note that Default Charge backing sheets are sent out when either of the thresholds is breached and may contain details of default charges for more than one Calendar Payment Date.

Format of Advice Notes, Backing Sheets and Confirmation Notices

Advice Notes and Confirmation Notes are in PDF and you will need a PDF reader such as Adobe Acrobat to view these files. Examples of the Advice notes and Confirmation Notices, along with information on how to read them are found below.

The Trading Charge backing sheets are delivered in unencrypted ASCII pipe delimited format. This format is meant for loading into applications such as MS Excel (or your own system) rather than direct interpretation.

When should I pay my charges?

Please do not use the backing sheets to pay off amounts due. Instead, wait until you receive an Advice Note before making a payment. The Payment Date is the date which printed on the top right hand corner of your Advice Note. You need to pay (or will be paid) the full amount on your Advice Note by this date.

The calendar Payment Date will appear on your backing sheets and against each of the charges itemised in your Advice Note and Confirmation Notice. It is the date you would have needed to pay (or receive) amounts outstanding if we didn’t have the monetary or time threshold in place. If your total daily charges exceed the monetary Advice Note Threshold Limit (currently set to £500) then the Payment Date and calendar Payment Date will be identical.

If you pay an amount before it is due then the FAA may need to return this money to you.

When do I get my Confirmation Notices?

You will receive a Confirmation Notice within two working days of paying your Advice Note.

Process Overview

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How do I read my Advice Note?

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Advice Note Page 1 of 2

1. An Advice Note is the note issued by the FAA showing the amount (including VAT) you need to pay to the BSC Clearer, or that the BSC Clearer needs to pay you. It can cover charges for several calendar Payment Dates (see 0) and must be paid in full by the Payment Date on that Advice Note (see 0). An Advice Note does not legally constitute a VAT invoice.

2. FAA contact details – if you have any queries about your Advice Notes please contact the BSC Service desk on 0870 010 6950.

3. Party contact details – your corporate postal and email addresses as submitted on your Funds Accession Form (BSCP301/04(a)). Please notify the FAA by completing an ‘Amendments to Funds Accession Details’ form (BSCP301/04(b)) if these are incorrect.

4. Date – date of issue of the Advice Note.

5. Payment Date – the date on which the total amount specified on the Advice Note (see 0) is due.

6. Advice Note Threshold Limit – this is set at £500 (payable or receivable), although this figure will be reviewed from time to time by the BSC Panel. The FAA will send you an Advice Note when the total of the Trading Charges, Default Charges and/or ad-hoc charges that you owe (or are owed) is equal to, or exceeds, this Threshold Limit.

7. The unique numerical identifier of the Backing Sheet details the Trading Charges, Default Charges and/or Ad-Hoc Charges that caused you to reach the monetary Advice Note Threshold Limit.

8. Trading Charges – the Trading Charges you have incurred. Trading Charges include the following charges:

        • Daily Party Period BM Unit Cashflows;

        • Daily Party BM Unit Period Non-Delivery Charges;

        • Daily Party Energy Imbalance Cashflows;

        • Daily Party Information Imbalance Cashflows;

        • Daily Party Residual Settlement Cashflows; and

        • Daily System Operator BM Cashflows.

9. Settlement Date – the Settlement Date for which you incurred your Trading Charges.

10. Settlement Code – this column contains the code for the Settlement Run type for which you incurred your Trading Charges.

11. Description – this denotes whether the row in the table refers to an itemised amount payable, gross interest or an amount you will receive.

12. Backing sheet – the unique numerical identifier of the backing sheet that relates to each line of charges. Each backing sheet relates to a calendar Payment Date and contains a detailed breakdown of the net amount shown for the line item it relates to. There are three types of backing sheet, corresponding to the different types of charges:

        • The FAA will email you a Trading Charges backing sheet on the Notification Date for each calendar Payment Date when Trading Charges are incurred, regardless of whether you have reached the Advice Note Threshold Limit or the date is a Quarter Date.

        • The FAA will email you a Default Charges backing sheet when you have accrued Default Charges and either of the thresholds (monetary or time) has been exceeded. The Default Charges backing sheet has been designed so you only receive a single Default Charges backing sheet per ongoing defaulting Trading Party, rather than a number of backing sheets detailing the Default Charge for each preceding day. You will receive a single Default Charges backing sheet each day if your Default Charge breaches the monetary threshold (the Advice Note Threshold Limit).

        • The FAA will email you an ad-hoc charge backing sheet when a Dispute Charge occurs, whether or not either of the thresholds were breached.

13. Calendar Payment Date – an Advice Note may have a number of line items relating to several Settlement Days. This will occur when you have cumulative payments and/or receipts which are under the monetary threshold. The calendar Payment Date heading is included on the Advice Note so you can link these items back to their daily backing sheets, and vice versa. The calendar Payment Date is used for reference purposes. You may not receive an Advice Note for each calendar Payment Date; for example, if your charges are less than £500 for a calendar Payment Date you will not receive an Advice Note for this date.

14. Amount – the Trading Charge Amount you need to pay or receive, or the Gross Interest for each Settlement Date, excluding VAT.

15. Total Inc VAT – the Trading Charge Amount you need to pay or receive, or the Gross Interest for each Settlement Date, including VAT charged at the current rate.

16. Trading Charge Subtotal – the subtotal of all Trading Charges due by the Payment Date, including VAT charged at the current rate.

17. Default Charges – Default Charges are unpaid BSC and SVA Charges due from Defaulting BSC Parties. These unpaid amounts are recognised as a bad debt and charged to all BSC Trading Parties in proportion to their Annual Funding Share. Please refer to section D of the BSC for more information on Funding Shares.

18. Affected Date – the date on which the Default Charges were incurred.

19. Defaulting Party – the BSC Party which has defaulted on their BSC or SVA Charge.

20. Defaulted Amount – the amount by which the Defaulting Party has entered Default.

21. Description – the BSC Party’s Default Share Amount, both in VATable and non-VATable terms, together with the gross interest incurred on this Default.

22. Default Charges Amount – the share of the Defaulted Amount that you are liable to pay or receive, excluding VAT both in VATable and non-VATable terms, together with the gross interest.

23. Default Charges Subtotal – the subtotal of all Default Charges that you need to pay or receive by the Payment Date, including VAT charged at the current rate if applicable.

24. Ad-hoc charges – from time to time you may incur additional charges on an ad-hoc basis. These are detailed in this section of the Advice Note.

25. Ad-hoc charges Subtotal – the subtotal of ad-hoc charges you need to pay for the Settlement Date(s) on the Advice Note, inclusive of VAT.

26. Total Amount Payable (or Receivable) – the total amount you need to pay or be paid, inclusive of VAT, by the Payment Date.

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Advice Note – Page 2 of 2

1. VAT Amount Payable – the value of the Trading Charges, Default Charges or ad-hoc charges you need to pay, adjusted for VAT.

2. VAT Amount Receivable –the value of the Trading Charges, Default Charges or ad-hoc charges you will receive, adjusted for VAT.

3. Backing Sheet – the numerical identifier of the backing sheet on which the applicable charge is detailed.

4. VAT Code – the VAT category for the applicable charge. The codes are:

    • S – standard rate VAT;

    • E – exempt from VAT; and

    • Z – zero rated VAT.

5. Description – a description of the VAT Code.

6. Trade Value – the total value of the applicable charge, not including VAT.

7. VAT Rate – the applicable rate of VAT in the United Kingdom on the Advice Note issue date, as specified by HM Revenue & Customs.

8. VAT Amount – the total VAT amount you need to pay or receive.

9. Total Inc VAT – the total amount you need to pay or receive for the applicable charge, inclusive of VAT.

          1. This row specifies the VAT amounts you need to pay or receive for Trading Charges.

          2. This row specifies the VAT amounts you need to pay or receive for Default Charges.

          3. This row specifies the VAT amounts you need to pay or receive for ad-hoc charges.

          4. This row specifies the total VAT amounts you need to pay or receive, inclusive of Trading Charges, Default Charges and/or ad-hoc charges, as appropriate.

How do I read my Confirmation Notice?

Confirmation Notice – Page 1 of 21

1. Confirmation Notice – the FAA will send you a Confirmation Notice by email for charges you have paid or received within two Business Days of the Payment Date. The Confirmation Notice legally constitutes a VAT invoice.

2. Confirmation Notice Number – the unique numerical identifier of the Confirmation Notice.

3. Advice Note Number – the unique numerical identifier of the Advice Note to which the Confirmation Notice relates.

4. Total Exc VAT – your Trading Charges, Default Charges and ad-hoc charges, excluding VAT.

5. VAT Amount – the VAT that has been charged on your Trading Charges, Default Charges and ad-hoc charges.

6. Total Inc VAT – your Trading Charges, Default Charges and ad-hoc charges, including VAT.

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How do I read my Backing Sheets?

Here is an extract from an example backing sheet:

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The next few sub-sections examine each ‘data group’ on the backing sheet. Further details about each of the fields (characterised by 1M, 2M, 3M… etc) in these lines are also provided.

First Data Group

The first data group is the Advice Note Header (ADV) row. There is one of these rows per file.

ADV|PARTY001|000001|20081111

1M

2M

3M

4M

ADV

PARTY001

000001

20081111

ADV – Advice Note Header (1)

Field

Field Name

Field type/ max size

Comment/description

1 M

Record Type

Char (3)

= ADV

2 M

BSC Party ID

Char (8)

BSC Party Identifier

3 M

Advice Note Number

Number (10)

Backing Sheet Number

4 M

Payment Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

Known to the BSC Party as “Calendar Payment Date”

Second Data Group

The second data group comprises the Current Run (CRN) row and the Current Charge Type (CCT) sub-rows. You have one CRN row in your file for each Settlement Run Type. The CCT rows detail what the charge types were for the Settlement Run.

Settlement Run Type

CRN|SF|20081014|20081111|20081111|501.00|501.00|0.00|0.00|0.00|

1M

2M

3M

4M

5M

6M

7M

8M

9M

10M

11M

CRN

SF

200810114

20081111

20081111

501.00

501.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

501.00

CRN – Current Run (1-*)

Field

Field Name

Field type/ max size

Comment/description

1 M

Record Type

Char (3)

= CRN

2 M

Settlement Code

Char (2)

SF, R1, R2, R3 or RF

3 M

Settlement Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

4 M

Payment Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

Known to the BSC Party as “Calendar Payment Date”

5 M

Initial Payment Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

6 M

Total

Number (12,2)

Total for current run

7 M

Difference

Number (12,2)

Difference between current run and previous run

8 M

Interest

Number (12,2)

Interest on Difference

9 M

VAT

Number (12,2)

VAT on Difference

10 M

Tax

Number (12,2)

Income Tax on Interest

11 M

Amount

Number (12,2)

= Difference + Interest + VAT - Tax

Current Run by Charge Type

CCT|B|0.00|Z

1M

2M

3M

4M

CCT

B

0.00

Z

CCT – Current Run by Charge Type (1-*)

Field

Field Name

Field type/ max size

Comment/description

1 M

Record Type

Char (3)

= CCT

2 M

Charge Type Code

Char (1)

B, E, I, N, R or S

3 M

Amount

Number (12,2)

4 M

VAT Code

Char (1)

e.g. S, Z, E

Example:

CCT|B|0.00|Z

CCT|E|450.10|Z

CCT|I|0.00|Z

CCT|N|0.00|Z

CCT|R|50.90|Z

CCT|S|0.00|Z

Third Data Group

The third data group comprises the Previous Run (PRN) row and Previous Charge Type (PCT) sub group. The PRN row provides details of the previous run type, and the PCT row the charge types for the previous run.

Previous Run Type

PRN|SF|20080917|20081015|-130.40

1M

2M

3M

4M

5M

PRN

SF

20080917

20081015

-130.40

PRN – Previous Run (0-*)

Field

Field Name

Field type/ max size

Comment/description

1 M

Record Type

Char (3)

= PRN

2 M

Settlement Code

Char (2)

SF, R1, R2, R3 or RF

3 M

Settlement Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

4 M

Payment Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

Known to the BSC Party as “Calendar Payment Date”

5 M

Total

Number (12,2)

Previous Run by Charge Type

PCT|B|0.00|Z

1M

2M

3M

4M

PCT

B

0.00

Z

PCT – Previous Run by Charge Type (0-*)

Field

Field Name

Field type/ max size

Comment/description

1 M

Record Type

Char (3)

= PCT

2 M

Charge Type Code

Char (1)

B, E, I, N, R or S

3 M

Amount

Number (12,2)

4 M

VAT Code

Char (1)

e.g. S, Z, E

Example

PRN|SF|20080917|20081015|-130.40

PCT|B|0.00|Z

PCT|E|-110.40|Z

PCT|I|0.00|Z

PCT|N|0.00|Z

PCT|R|-20.00|Z

PCT|S|0.00|Z

Fourth Data Group

The fourth data group comprises the Interest Header (IHD) row and the Interest Detail (IDT) sub group. The IHD row relates to your interest and the IDT rows give a breakdown of that interest.

The Interest Row

IHD|DF|20060628|0.00

1M

2M

3M

4M

IHD

DF

20060628

0.00

IHD – Interest Header (0-*)

Field

Field Name

Field type/ max size

Comment/description

1 M

Record Type

Char (3)

= IHD

2 M

Settlement Code

Char (2)

SF, R1, R2, R3 or RF

3 M

Settlement Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

4 M

Total Interest

Number (12,2)

The Interest Detail Rows

IDT|20060726|20060803|9|0.01|4.5000|0.00|0.01

1M

2M

3M

4M

5M

6M

7M

8M

IDT

20060726

20060803

9

0.01

4.5000

0.00

0.01

IDT – Interest Detail (0-*)

Field

Field Name

Field type/ max size

Comment/description

1 M

Record Type

Char (3)

= IDT

2 M

Start Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

3 M

End Date

Date

YYYYMMDD format

4 M

Number of Days

Number (3)

Number of days for which interest date applies

5 M

Principal

Number (12,4)

Principal Amount on which interest is calculated

6 M

Interest Rate

Number (8,2)

Interest rate used in calculation

7 M

Interest Amount

Number (12,4)

Interest amount for the period

8 M

Total Including Interest

Number (12,4)

Principal + Interest Amount

Need more information?

If you require further information on your Advice Note, Confirmation Notices or Backing Sheets please contact the

BSC Service Desk or call 0870 010 6950.

Intellectual Property Rights, Copyright and Disclaimer

The copyright and other intellectual property rights in this document are vested in Elexon or appear with the consent of the copyright owner. These materials are made available for you for the purposes of your participation in the electricity industry. If you have an interest in the electricity industry, you may view, download, copy, distribute, modify, transmit, publish, sell or create derivative works (in whatever format) from this document or in other cases use for personal academic or other non-commercial purposes. All copyright and other proprietary notices contained in the document must be retained on any copy you make.

All other rights of the copyright owner not expressly dealt with above are reserved.

No representation, warranty or guarantee is made that the information in this document is accurate or complete. While care is taken in the collection and provision of this information, Elexon Limited shall not be liable for any errors, omissions, misstatements or mistakes in any information or damages resulting from the use of this information or action taken in reliance on it.

1 The Confirmation Notice looks broadly similar to the Advice Note, and therefore only the salient differences are highlighted in this section.