The final Triad season is approaching

This year is likely to be the final triad season where the Triads are used to determine Transmission charges – and the last chance for customers to benefit from the Triad Warning Service. This is because the way Transmission costs are recovered from customers is changing from April 2023.

Every year the National Grid uses a system known as the Triads to calculate Transmission charges, which make up part of the electricity bill for half-hourly customers. Meanwhile energy suppliers attempt to accurately forecast when the Triads will take place, so they can forewarn these customers before they occur.

Triads in a nutshell

The Triads refers to the three half-hours of highest peak electricity demand between the start of November and the end of February, separated by at least 10 days. And they only affect customers with meters that measure their demand on a half-hourly basis (typically large industrial and commercial businesses – domestic customers are not affected).

Armed with this insight, these businesses can prepare accordingly – whether that’s budgeting for the peak demand, minimising how much energy is used during them to minimise costs, or avoiding using energy during the Triads altogether. It's worth noting, that if no electricity is consumed during the three Triad half-hours, there is no Transmission charge for the entire financial year.

The benefits of our Triad Alert Service

At British Gas we use an advanced forecasting methodology to determine expected peak winter demand, which is then used to provide an alert to our customers who have signed up to this service. The alerts are provided a day in advance of a potential Triad occurring, in addition to on the day itself to give customers as much notice as possible. We'll also provide detail on the time we expect the Triad to take place.

Above industry average

The role of Triad alerts is an important one. So as one of the UK's leading energy supplier, we're committed to supporting businesses with a service they can trust – one that’s underpinned by our years of experience and industry expertise. With our support, customers can use them to manage consumption during that period to help reduce their transmission costs. Our customers can also respond to alerts by simply reducing demand, during that time or by switching energy-intensive processes to another time of the day. And we're proud to say that we have a proven track record – having successfully forecast all Triads last winter with only 20 alerts, compared to the industry average of 25.

So, what's changing?

As part of Ofgem's Targeted Charging Review (TCR), from April 2023 the residual element of transmission costs will move away from the traditional peak consumption charging methodologies (e.g. Triads) to a fixed p/day charge that will go into customer’s standing charges.

The level of the new p/day charges will be determined by which TCR Band a site has been allocated by the networks, based on their historic consumption.

A quick look at transmission charging from April 2023

Next steps

If you are an existing British Gas Business half-hourly customer and would like support managing consumption and costs this winter, you can contact your Account Manager who will be able to provide you with further information and be able to sign you up to our Triad Forecasting Service. Equipped with day-ahead and on-the-day warnings of potential Triad days, you can decide how best to manage them. In today's challenging market with the rising cost of energy, even minimising transmission costs just a little can all help lower your bills.

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