Change Management

Through its Business Projects team, xoserve manages a programme of projects that deliver change on behalf of the Network companies. Change is primarily driven by major industry reform and modifications to the Uniform Network Code that impact on xoserve systems - primarily UKLink, Gemini and Conquest.

All projects are managed to best practice standards and audited to demonstrate robustness of the processes – PRINCE2, ISO9000 and Sarbanes-Oxley.

In a typical year xoserve processes in excess of 400 change orders.

Commercial Analysis

xoserve provides an operational research consultancy service where quantitative techniques such as simulation, risk analysis and regression analysis are combined with sound business understanding to provide industry solutions. The success of this service is built on xoserve's knowledge of the industry and ability to use analytical techniques innovatively to provide custom solutions.

Employees working in this area have strong quantitative qualifications including degree level Mathematics, Management Science, Statistics, and MSc in Operational Research along with considerable research experience.

Customer Service

xoserve has a customer service centre that deals with queries and provides information to the major gas Networks’ customers, the gas Shippers. Known as the Information Centre, it provides this data directly via responses to telephone calls (via a call centre) as well as responding to email requests for information. The Centre also provides information to gas Suppliers, Ofgem, energywatch and other major energy users.

The team also handles gas consumers enquiries directly via an individual telephone line on issues regarding premises which do not have a registered gas supplier. In addition, an internet data service is provided to gas Shippers and major energy users where they can obtain information directly about their supply points on-line.

The team handles an average of 960,000 calls per year, receives 21 million hits a year on its internet data service, and receives up to 2.4 million supply point enquiries via e-mail a year.

M Number Service

xoserve provides the M Number enquiry line service for end gas consumers. This enables consumers to call a dedicated phone number to establish what the M Number (the unique identifier) is for their gas supply point and also the identity of the current registered gas supplier at their premises. Consumers make around 1.8 million calls to this service each year.

The M number phone line is 0870 608 1524

Demand Estimation

xoserve's Demand Estimation service derives the algorithms and parameters that form the basis of the calculation of the amount of gas used on a daily basis in each of the 13 Local Distribution Zones (LDZs).

Gas flows through the National Transmission System to off takes at each LDZ and on to Britain's 22 million gas supply points. Although these meters are read at frequent intervals, the system requires balancing on a daily basis, by LDZ and customer type. The majority of meters are not daily read. Therefore to enable the system to be balanced daily, the gas is allocated to the non-daily metered (NDM) market using the algorithms and parameters defined in xoserve's Demand Estimation service.

The algorithms and parameters are reviewed on an annual basis and take into account differences in levels of usage and customer behaviour, as a result of changes in weather, time of year, geographical location and customer type.

For more information please contact Mark Perry

Energy Recording, Invoicing and balancing

xoserve is responsible for ensuring that all of the 130 gas shippers and traders who use the transporters' networks are billed according to their transportation volume and usage.

xoserve generates some £2.7 billion worth of invoices every year, handling 45 million charge items, and issues 24,000 invoices. In addition, we are responsible for the preparation and issue of invoice adjustments.

Information Systems

xoserve’s information technology team is responsible for managing one of the largest customer databases in the UK. Carrying some two terabytes of data, this data and the sytems that operate from it have to be constantly available to the industry.

xoserve manages the information systems that support the commercial gas regime. Through providing excellent customer service, xoserve has a strong track record of being able to oversee systems that enable gas competition and customer switching to operate effectively in Britain- the first truly liberalised competitive gas industry in the world.

Conquest

xoserve’s IS team is responsible for the management and delivery of the IS systems and IS services provided by xoserve to its customers. One of the main systems operated by xoserve is Conquest – an e-based query management system used by the gas Shippers and xoserve.

Gemini

xoserve’s IS team is responsible for the management and delivery of the IS systems and IS services provided by xoserve to its customers. Gemini will replace the gas Transmission side of the UK-Link system.

UK-Link

UK-Link is at the heart of the competitive UK gas industry. This is the system that carries all the information that enables customers to switch between suppliers. Once activated, the majority of switches take place automatically within the UK-Link system. UK-Link carries sites, meters and billing information along with gas Transmission data, and is used by the major gas transporters and gas Shippers.xoserve’s IS team is responsible for the management and deliver of UK-Link.

Supply Point Administration

xoserve manages all the information relating to the 22 million gas supply points in Britain (consisting of both domestic and industrial/commercial premises). This is known as Supply Point Administration, and the information is vital as it is used in the transfer processes which enable gas supply competition to operate effectively in the UK.

xoserve also needs to know which gas Shipper is responsible for supplying gas to each premises (supply point) on the gas network in order to calculate transportation and energy charges, and therefore bill each gas Shipper correctly.

The information is stored on the UK-Link system. The data changes daily due to the large number of consumers switching their suppliers through the industry transfer processes. There are between 4,000,000 and 6,000,000 supply point transfers each year as consumers take advantage of the competitive gas market. In addition some 156,000 new supply points are created each year.

The majority of transfer processes are automated and managed through the UK Link system. Some very large customers such as gas power stations, or sites with any meters and potentially different suppliers will be dealt with via an off-line systems for non-standard processes.