On 9 January 2019 BEIS issued a consultation letter to Ofgem, the SEC Panel, SEC Parties and other interested parties seeking views on proposed changes to the DCC licence to require the DCC to develop and implement plans to support Enduring Change of Supplier arrangements.
The primary changes proposed by this consultation are:
- A new licence condition that requires the DCC to develop, consult upon, and submit to the Secretary of State for approval a plan to implement (including migration to) the Enduring Change of Supplier arrangements.
- The licence condition permits the Secretary of State to direct that the plan be modified if he considers this to be necessary and for the DCC to resubmit the modified plan for approval if so directed.
- Following the approval of the plan by the Secretary of State the DCC would be required to give effect to the plan including, amongst other things, progressing the necessary changes to existing Relevant Service Capability and procuring new Relevant Service Capability and to facilitate migration to that Service. These activities would be governed by the provisions of the DCC licence including, for example, Condition 16 which governs the DCC’s procurement of Relevant Service Capability and Condition 5 that includes obligations on DCC relating to acting economically and efficiently in providing its services.
- The licence condition also permits the Secretary of State to direct that a wholly new plan be produced and implemented if this is considered necessary.
The deadline for responses to this consultation is Thursday 21 February 2019.