What the New Market Role Means for the Energy Industry

Until now, connection users were limited in requesting and using their energy data, for example, for energy consumption advice. This problem is now to be addressed by introducing the new market role of energy service providers, thus relieving the connection user.

What is the connection user's energy service provider? 

The energy service provider of the connection user is a separate new market role in the role model for market communication of the German energy market. To participate in market communication, each company that wishes to appear in this market role requires a unique identification number.

What can the energy service provider do? 

With the corresponding consent of the connection user, the energy service provider can order metering data from the metering point operator via market communication and use it for its purposes (e.g., energy consumption consulting for the connection user). It must be noted that data protection regulations must handle sensitive consumption data, and the information collected may only be used for the agreed analyses and evaluations.

The energy service provider can choose between two communication channels with an installed intelligent metering system. On the one hand, it can receive measured values via secure data communication developed by the BSI in a star configuration from the smart meter gateway or by market communication via EDIFACT and AS4 from the backend for individual use cases.

For whom are the services of the energy service provider of interest? 

The target group of the energy service provider includes, e.g., commercial customers, municipalities, or end consumers but also highly regulated and con-strained energy suppliers. The energy service provider can play an essential role between the network operator and the energy supplier and can be used to enhance network control or optimize energy purchasing. In addition, there are already energy market participants with an energy management system who use the additional measured values from the energy service provider to further regu-late and reduce energy consumption.

What course has already been set for the market role of an energy service provider? 

For the market role of energy service providers, standardized market processes to order related products for load or meter reading profiles were introduced by the metering point operator in October 2022, eliminating the need for time-consuming bilateral coordination with the metering point operator. 

For 2023, the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) is expanding the market processes for product accounting between the metering point operator and energy service provider and standardizing this process, which is usually coordinated bilaterally.

What other services can the energy service provider offer in the future? 

The German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) has announced expanding the energy service provider market processes to include additional products that can be ordered for actual feed in generation plants, net-work status data, high-frequency measured values, and transparent communication channels. The energy service provider then offers additional value-added services to the connection user, such as building management, storage optimization, and optimized charging of electric cars or IoT sensors, accessed via a smart meter gateway.

What can Arvato Systems offer to support the new energy service provider requirements? 

As an expert in metering point operation, Arvato Systems already offers critical IT systems for market communication via AS4, smart meter gateway administration, and IoT. In the future, Arvato Systems will be able to distribute values in the energy market and make them usable in facility and energy management solutions.