Profiling
A Load Profile represents the pattern of electricity usage by day and by year for the average customer in each one of the eight Profile Classes. We create Profiles (daily, seasonal, yearly, per day type, etc.) for each of the eight Profile Classes by randomly selecting sites and installing half-hourly meters at these sites or getting half-hourly consumption data directly from Suppliers.
These samples are designed to provide Profiles that are representative of all meters in each Profile Class.
The above is an example of a Load Profile for the average Profile Class 1 (domestic unrestricted) customer in a typical winter weekday.
Profile Classes
Profile Classes 1 and 2 are for domestic premises and Profile Classes 3 to 8 are for non-domestic premises. The eight generic Profile Classes were chosen as they represented large populations of similar customers. Below is a detailed description of these:
- Profile Class 1 – Domestic Unrestricted Customers
- Profile Class 2 – Domestic Economy 7 Customers
- Profile Class 3 – Non-Domestic Unrestricted Customers
- Profile Class 4 – Non-Domestic Economy 7 Customers
- Profile Class 5 – Non-Domestic Maximum Demand Customers with a Peak Load Factor of less than 20%
- Profile Class 6 – Non-Domestic Maximum Demand Customers with a Peak Load Factor between 20% and 30%
- Profile Class 7 – Non-Domestic Maximum Demand Customers with a Peak Load Factor between 30% and 40%
- Profile Class 8 – Non-Domestic Maximum Demand Customers with a Peak Load Factor over 40%
Customers in Profile Classes 5 to 8 are described as Maximum Demand (MD) customers. This refers to customers whose Metering System has a register that gives the maximum demand for a given period.
A Peak Load Factor (LF) is the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of consumption (in kWh) during a given period to the number of kWh that would have been supplied had the maximum demand been maintained throughout that period.
For more information, please read Load Profiles and their use in electricity Settlement.
How are Profile Classes allocated?
The method of allocating a Profile Class is dependent on whether:
- the Metering System Identifier (MSID) is Import or Export;
- meter usage is Domestic or Non-Domestic;
- the meter has ‘switched load’ capabilities;
- Maximum Demand (MD) is recorded.
Suppliers are responsible for allocating their customers in the appropriate Profile Class. BSCP516 sets a requirement on Suppliers to recalculate the Peak Load Factor of their Profile Classes 5-8 customers and reallocate them in the appropriate Profile Class when necessary.
More information
How can I identify the customer’s Profile Class from their Metering Point Administration Number (MPAN)?
The first two digits of all electricity customers’ full (21-digit) MPAN indicate the Profile Class they belong to.
More information on MPANs can be found in the ELEXON MPAN guidance notes.
More information
The Profiling sample
The first stage of the Profiling process is the sample design. The Profile Administrator (PrA) samples are groups of electricity supply customers for each Profile Class drawn from the population of electricity supply market customers. They are designed to provide an accurate estimate of the load pattern for each Class of customers for use in Settlement.
The PrA samples all have a similar basic structure: Profile Class -> Super Stratum -> Stratum. More information on the Profiling sample structures, the sample constraints and the selection of the customers can be found in the Profiling Samples and Candidate Selection guidance.
The current target sample size is 2,500 customer across all Profile Classes across the country. This sample includes all types of customers (domestic, commercial, industrial) with a Maximum Demand below 100 kW.
Suppliers are responsible for recruiting customers and providing data for the Profiling sample.
When it comes to the metering equipment installation and the data retrieval, Supplies have two options:
- either to appoint ELEXON’s Data Gatherer and Sample Manager (DGSM – that is a service provider for ELEXON) to install the meter and collect the data from their customers
- appoint their own Agents who will be responsible for providing the data to ELEXON’s DGSM
BSCP510 – The Provision of Sampling Data to the Profile Administrator sets out the procedures involved with the provision of customer information to the PrA to enable active energy Profile data to be gathered for each Profile Class.
Data used in Profiling
Inputs
- Demand data: The data collected from the samples is half-hourly consumption data (in kW) called Group Average Demands. From these, consumption data (in kWh) can be easily derived.
- Temperature and sunset data: Additionally, the Profile Administrator uses temperature data from each GSP Group, sunset data from a Sunset Provider and ‘dummy’ variables declaring the weekday type.
Outputs
- Regression coefficients: The Profile Administrator uses regression coefficients that are plugged in the regression model along with the above inputs to calculate an estimate of demand on a given half-hourly period.
- Profile Coefficients: The Supplier Volume Allocation Agent (SVAA) uses the out-turn temperature data to calculate Daily Profile Coefficients. Period Profile Class Coefficients (for every Settlement period) are also produced as an output.
Approved weather stations
The temperature data is provided to the SVAA on a daily basis by the Meteorological Office and is collected for each GSP Group from weather stations that are approved for use by the Supplier Volume Allocation Group (SVG). You can download a list of the approved weather stations from the ELEXON Portal.
Who can access the Profiling data and how?
Suppliers registered under the BSC receive daily (D0018) and standing (D0028) Profile data reports from the SVAA whenever the Daily Profile Production run is performed.
They also receive regression coefficients along with Market Domain Data. BSCP508 – Supplier Volume Allocation Agent provides timetable information on what reports and the associated timescales Suppliers (and Non-Half Hourly Data Collectors) can expect to receive from the SVAA.
If you are a Supplier and wish to be resent any of the Profile data reports, please request this from the SVAA by raising a helpdesk call with the BSC Service Desk.
Non-BSC Parties can access Profile coefficient data (as described in the Data Flows page of the ELEXON website) under a certain fee.
The Profiling process
The PrA service is a rolling process and the Profiling data (or Technical Product Deliverables) get updated twice a year. Before they can be used in Settlement, ELEXON present their analysis and validation findings to the Supplier Volume Allocation Group (SVG) who then decide whether to approve the new set of Deliverables to be used in Settlement in the following BSC Year.
The Profile coefficients, once approved by the SVG, sit in a central repository called Market Domain Data (MDD). All MDD tables, along with the ‘Default Period Profile Class Coefficients’ table, can be found on the ELEXON Portal.
The Load Profiles and their use in electricity Settlement guidance notes detail the construction process, the data analysis stage, as well as the use of Load Profiles to derive half-hourly consumption values.
How are Profiles used in Settlement?
The Profile coefficients give an average usage pattern, in other words what we derive at the end is a Profile shape.
Energy, either as an Annualised Advance (AA) or an Estimate Annual Consumption (EAC), is allocated under the Profile shape – by multipliying the AA or the EAC by the period Profile Class Coefficients – and in this way we manage to obtain half-hourly consumption data.
Training video
More information on EACs and AAs and their calculation can be found on the EAC/AA training video and slide pack available on the ELEXON website.