Electricity Information Exchange Protocol 12
Title: Electricity Information Exchange Protocol 12 - Tariff rate change
notification
Application: This protocol applies when a distributor who does not send accounts for
line function services to consumers directly changes its tariff rates,
including by introducing or removing 1 or more tariff rates, for
consumers who have category 1 metering installations or category 2
metering installations.
Participants: Trader/Distributor
Code references: Clause 12A.14 and 12A.16 (from 16 December 2013)
Dependencies: A distributor's published price plans contain detailed information about
the distributor's tariff rates that this protocol does not require the
distributor to provide to traders. Accordingly, this protocol must be read
in conjunction with the distributor's price plans.
The use-of-system agreement between the distributor and the trader
may also set out requirements relating to changes to tariff rates that the
distributor or the trader must comply with.
Description of when this protocol applies
1. Except as otherwise agreed by a distributor and the relevant trader, a distributor must comply
with this protocol when changing its tariff rates, including by introducing or removing 1 or more
tariff rates, for consumers who have category 1 metering installations or category 2 metering
installations.
2. A distributor may, but is not required to, comply with this protocol when changing its tariff rates for
consumers who have category 3, 4, 5 or 6 metering installations.
3. A trader must comply with this protocol in respect of changes to the tariff rates of a distributor on
whose network the trader trades electricity.
Business requirements
1. The distributor and each trader trading on the distributor's network must agree on the file
transport mechanism by which the distributor will provide notification of changes to the tariff rates
for consumers on the distributor's network, and the address to which the notification will be sent.
2. The distributor must give a tariff change notification when the distributor changes the tariff rate for
consumers on its network who have category 1 or category 2 metering installations.
3. The notification must be given to each trader who sells electricity to such consumers.
4. The notification must be given to a trader as soon as practicable after the distributor notifies the
trader of the tariff rate change.
5. The notification must include a full and complete file of all the distributor’s published tariffs (not
just the tariffs that the distributor is changing) that complies with the attribute specifications and
the protocol specifications that are set out in this protocol.
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6. If the distributor becomes aware of an error in the file, the distributor must advise the trader of the
error as soon as practicable after becoming aware of the error. The trader may request that the
distributor provide the trader with a partial or full replacement file. Unless the trader and the
distributor agree otherwise, the distributor must provide the trader with a full replacement file.
7. A notification does not need to include capacity or quantity-related information about the tariff
rates.
8. A notification that relates to consumers who are charged fixed or variable tariff charges must
specify flow direction. However, flow direction does not need to be specified in respect of a
notification that relates to consumers who are charged on the basis of GXP pricing.
Data inputs
Distributors’ published price plans.
Attribute specifications
Attributes Format Mandatory/ XML tag Comments
optional
Header record type Char 3 M <Row Type> HDR – indicates the row
is a header record type
File type Char 7 M <File Type> Pricing Information -
PRICE
Sender Char 4 M <Sender> Party code of sender
Sent on behalf of Char 4 M <On Behalf of> Party code of party on
whose behalf
consumption data is
provided
Recipient Char 4 M <Recipient> Party code of recipient
Report run date DD/MM/YYYY M <Run Date> Date the report is run
Report run time HH:MM:SS M <Run Time> Time the report is run
File initiator unique NUM 12 M <Identifier> Number that uniquely
identifier identifies the report
Number of detail NUM 8 M <Record Count> Total number of DET
records records in report
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Attributes Format Mandatory/ XML tag Comments
optional
Detail record type Char 3 M <Record Type> DET – indicates the row is
a detail record.
Distributor code Char 4 M <Distributor code> Party code of party on
whose behalf pricing
information is provided.
Start Date DD/MM/YYYY M <Start Date> The start date of the new
tariff rate
End Date DD/MM/YYYY O <End Date> The end date of the new
tariff rate
Registry price Char 7 M <Pricing Code> Pricing code identifier as
category code used in the registry.
Fixed / Variable Char 1 M <Fxd_Var> Identifies a data row as
either “F” for fixed or “V”
for variable
Flow direction Char 1 M <Flow> For flow direction, "I"
indicates injection and "X"
indicates extraction
Register content Char 6 O <Register Content> Identifies the meter
code content of each data row
Hours of availability Num 2 O <Register Hours> The available supply
hours for each meter
content code
Meter register code Char 4 O <Register Code> Register code used by
Distributors
Tariff code Char 12 M <Tariff> The specific tariff code for
that load group and meter
content code
Unit type Char 25 O <unit type> The type of unit in which
data is supplied as per
unit of measure type
table. If no unit is advised,
the unit type is kWh (for
variable charges), and
days (for fixed charges).
Network price/tariff Num 6.6 M <Rate> The specific tariff rate in
rate dollars per unit
Protocol specifications
1. When giving notification of a change to its tariff rates, a distributor must include with the
notification a file that complies with the following specifications:
The file must be a comma delimited text file. Commas must not be used within fields. If
portions of a field require separation, a tilde character (~) must be used. If commas
need to be used in the fields, quotation marks must be used to exclude them as
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separators, as per the DOS CSV format.
2. Matching of file names, code list values, and other information must be case insensitive.
3. The file must contain one header and one or more detail records.
4. The first record of a file must contain header information followed by zero or more detailed lines.
5. The file must have a file name that complies with the following, and must have a name that is
unique to the month to which the file relates:
Sender + Utility Type (only “E” must be used) + Recipient + File Type (only “PRICE”
must be used) + Report Month + Report Run Date + UniqueID# (e.g. hhmm run time, or
ICP but limited to Char(60)) with an extension of .TXT and with the components
concatenated using the underscore character, to assist readability.
e.g. TRUS_E_UNET_PRICE_200007_20000802_ UniqueID.TXT
[Char4_Char1_Char4_ Char7_yyyymm_yyyymmdd_Char60.TXT]
Data outputs
Completed notification of tariff changes for transmission by the distributor to the trader.
Definitions
In this protocol, the following definitions apply:
Code means the Electricity Industry Participation Code 2010
day means the measure of time for fixed daily charges
kWh means kilo watt hour energy (real energy).
Unless the context otherwise requires, any term that is defined in the Code and used in this protocol
has the same meaning as in the Code.
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