Market Facilitator
The Market Facilitator
Ofgem has appointed Elexon as Market Facilitator: a single, expert entity with a mandate to align local and national flexibility market arrangements. The aims of these new Market Facilitator arrangements are to reduce friction in flexibility markets, to increase liquidity and unlock the full value of flexibility.
In practice, the Market Facilitator will establish and own Flexibility Market Rules (FMRs) comprising rules, processes, standards and services that DNOs and NESO are required to comply with through licences. It will also provide input into NESO’s service design process.
Ofgem set out the scope, objectives and deliverables of the Market Facilitator in its Market Facilitator Governance Framework Document.
NESO is committed to working effectively with Elexon in its new role
The Market Facilitator’s scope encompasses the Balancing Mechanism (except operational aspects), our Ancillary Services (except non-energy services such as stability and reactive power markets), and DNO services.
To ensure the Market Facilitator can inform our development of these services and that we can implement FMRs in these services, we need to develop new collaborative ways of working. Our Licence Condition requires us to, with Elexon, establish and maintain a way of working document that covers at least:
- How NESO and the Market Facilitator will ensure strategic alignment of change processes where possible
- Processes for managing instances where a Flexibility Market Rule affects NESO’s service design
- Processes for handling NESO service design changes that require early-stage input from the Market Facilitator.