How Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement will impact your business and your energy bills
You’ve probably heard that Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS) is on its way. This transition will affect all energy industry participants, but most changes will take place behind the scenes. The impact on your business depends on the type of meters and services you use.
We’ve compiled this useful page of information before MHHS is implemented.
You can also visit our dedicated MHHS page to find out more.
Key changes with the move to MHHS
The main changes you may notice include:
- Changes to billing Possible cost changes due to the difference between non-half-hourly (NHH) and half-hourly (HH) metering and settlement. We will contact all customers who are impacted.
- New terminology and services MPANs (meter point numbers) reclassified into new segments, and new metering and data services introduced.
- Data cleansing The whole industry is working to improve the accuracy of the information it holds. We'll be in touch if we need your help.
- Meter agent or service changes If a site’s measurement class changes to half-hourly, we’ll need to appoint data and meter administration agents and include these costs in bills. We will inform all customers who are affected by this.
- Meter upgrades and installs We'll be in touch with all customers who we've identified as having a meter that needs updating or changing, to outline your options and next steps. If your business doesn’t have a smart or AMR meter yet. Find out more here.
- New connections All new unmetered connections must now be registered as half-hourly.
How can my business prepare for MHHS?
For most businesses, the best way to prepare for MHHS is to upgrade any non-half-hourly (NHH) meters to smart or AMR meters. And you could start reaping the benefits sooner if you upgrade now.
Upgrade your meter
Check if you have a smart or AMR meter installed and that it's functioning correctly. Smart meters are an excellent way to benefit from MHHS, as they record energy usage in half-hourly intervals. If you don't have a smart meter, you'll still be settled half-hourly, using estimates, but you might miss out on the latest products and tariffs.
Review energy usage data
Understanding when and how much energy is used can help identify potential savings. SSE Energy Solutions customers can log in to SSE Clarity to access their energy consumption data.
Save energy
Based on the insights gained from energy usage data, businesses should implement energy-saving measures.
Adopt smart solutions
Consider innovations like solar and battery storage, or electric vehicle (EV) charging.
Explore new tariffs
Time-of-use tariffs, like our Day/Night or Weekday/Evening and Weekend tariffs, allow customers to benefit from lower rates during off-peak hours. Suppliers will be able to introduce new plans thanks to smart meter capabilities and data, which could help you save money by shifting when your business uses energy.
Energy management systems
Energy management systems can help monitor and control energy consumption in real time, providing valuable insights and automating energy-saving actions.
If we need to make any changes to your account or meter, we’ll be in touch to explain exactly how these may affect you. You can ask your account manager to check any next steps you may need to complete or get in touch about upgrading your business to smart metering.
By October 2025, all unmetered electricity supplies will switch to half-hourly settlement as a first step for the Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement programme.
If my unmetered inventory has multiple MPANs, what changes can I expect to see in my supply number due to the MHHS Programme?
Going forward there will only be one MPAN for each unmetered inventory. If you have multiple MPANs, only one will be kept, and the rest will be removed. Standing charges for deactivated MPANs will cease.
The new charges will take effect from the date you change to half-hourly. You’ll receive a closing bill for any removed MPANs and an opening bill for the remaining MPAN.
If you have an SSE Choice or SSE Shaping plan, these additional charges will appear on your bill:
- Data Collector (DC) Passthrough Charge
- Meter Administrator (MA) Passthrough Charge
- Elec HH Passthrough Charge
If you have multiple MPANs with different suppliers for one unmetered inventory, you need to choose one supplier to retain the MPAN by contacting your preferred supplier or the Unmetered Supply Operator (UMSO). The other supplier(s) will deactivate the secondary MPANs. If you don't make a choice, we’ll work with the other supplier(s) to determine who you’ll stay with. Any contracts except for the remaining MPAN will end.
If you have multiple inventories with the same UMSO, you may be able to reduce this to a single inventory. To discuss changes to your inventory, you should contact your UMSO.
If you want to make changes to your agreed inventory, like adding new equipment or decommissioning existing supplies, please contact your UMSO as soon as possible. They won't be able to backdate changes beyond the date when existing unmetered supplies switch to half-hourly.
If you're happy with your current inventory as agreed with your UMSO, and don’t have multiple MPANs with different suppliers, there's no need for any action on your part. We'll handle the updates for you.
We’ll write to affected customers to provide more information and to inform them before we make the switch.