FAQ

When registering, you have two choices: registration as (1) Member System Market Party or (2) Member Non-System Party. Registration is best done as a Member System Market Party where you as market roles Metering responsible and Data user can select. Your market role as metering manager gives you the right to vote on system-related topics. Your market role “data user” also gives you a voice in the data sharing processes.

As a representative organization for business users you designate the participant group (species member) representative-business, while as a representative organization for consumers you designate the participant group (species member) designates a representative consumer. You cannot designate any further market roles.

As a member of the representative-business or consumer group of participants, you automatically have the right to vote on all kinds of decisions (namely: internal operations, system processes and data sharing processes). You cannot identify yourself as a data user because within the MFF you always vote out of your role as a representative of the consumer/business user.

It is best to register under the participant group (species member) system market party. You also indicate both the market role of supplier and data user. Because of your membership in the participant group system market party instead of non-system party, you can vote on system processes. The market role data user ensures that you can also vote in data sharing processes as a user of energy data.

The MFF does not ask for contributions, both until the entry into force of the new Energy Act and afterwards. The costs of the MFF are socialized and are borne by the network operators.

In principle, an audience role could be possible in the MFF. However, this decision will be made together with the future members in one of the first MFF meetings.

We want the sessions to take place physically (Amersfoort) as much as possible. Presence for each session is not mandatory (but desired of course), and if presence on location is not feasible, a power of attorney can always be given to a third legal person.

From the date of start, all parties wishing to participate in the MFF must sign an accession agreement (Agreement System) with the BAS. If this is not done, the MFF membership will expire.

The main documents are available on the MFFBAS website. This includes the onboarding package for registration with regard to membership as well as informative documents regarding the preliminary stage and explanation of the new facility.

This is possible as a member of a representative business or representative consumer, but only on the condition that the organization acts nationally, enjoys sufficient and demonstrable representativeness and defends the interests of end consumers of electricity and gas (residential or business), and does not conflict with other interests.

If one or more existing Member legal entities belong to a group (holding company) and there is another group company within the same group, and this group company also registers with the association, then this company can only register if it registers with register the association with a market role(s) that have not already been registered by the existing Member legal entities of the same group.

The BAS provides the framework for a well-functioning supporting organization. To this end, internal personnel (formerly NEDU personnel) are deployed and the organization chart is further completed where necessary.

In order to develop topics, the BAS also appoints Topic Managers (TM) based on the new Portfolio (which at the start will mainly include Topics based on the current NEDU issues). In the first instance, the topic management will be filled in by a selection of NEDU personnel and additional profiles recruited by the BAS to shape the new operation. If the portfolio shows that additional TMs are required, a request will be made on the market.

The assignment of Topic Managers runs until week 14. Subsequently, these TMs will get to work to put together the new working groups. This question / award of experts
starts from week 13 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of April. These experts will be jointly responsible for the (further) elaboration of the Topics.

New parties have the right to participate in the MFF meetings after joining the MFF. Here they are given decision-making authority according to defined decision types and
voting ratios. This concerns substantive Topics around system processes, data sharing processes and decisions regarding the internal functioning of the MFF. During the elaboration of Topics, the market parties involved are also asked to contribute to the elaboration & implementation.

With the entry into force of the MFF & BAS, the committees will cease to exist. The activities will be realized in BAS as topics end-to-end. The expertise of the committees is needed in the working groups to work out the topics. As far as the task groups are concerned, the following as-is will take place in the new operation for the time being: Security of supply task group, Energy eInvoice & SG measurement chain P4. The function of the GMM NEDU is filled by the MFF meeting and will be expanded with the newly registered parties. Within the MFF, committees are set up to flesh out internal operations. This concerns: Disputes Committee, Remuneration Committee, Appointment Advisory Committee.

The activities of the SPC are included within the new portfolio approach that uses the SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) methodology. The current NEDU processes are also being redesigned in this new way of working.

The A2.0 program will be accommodated under MFF/BAS, whereby the current operation will be adjusted as little as possible. Any further integration of the program will be evaluated on a periodic basis and implemented if appropriate.

The elaboration of the Energy Act will be tackled through the new way of working. This means that one or more topics are formed which are realized with working groups become. Interfaces with other topics are made clear in the PI planning and reporting takes place to the MFF. The elaboration of the Energy Act will be synchronized happen to other topics. MFF/BAS is in talks with ACM about the best possible facilitating this pipeline. Input from MFF for the creation of upcoming MRs of EZK are drawn up and sent in.

The NEDU sharepoint will continue to exist as an archive. Current documents are transferred as much as possible to the new sharepoint to be set up, and/or translated into new formats. With the entry into force of the MFF & BAS, the committees will cease to exist. The activities will be realized in BAS as topics end-to-end. The expertise of the committees is needed in the working groups to work out the topics. During the transfer, it was asked to name the knowledge holders per issue/activity in the intake form so that these people can be approached per subject. Depending on the need, we look at how we can facilitate contact moments for domain experts outside the Topics.

In brief:
1) All stakeholders can submit an initiative to the MFF. This is done through a Benefit hypothesis (the format of which has yet to be published)

2) If the MFF adopts the topic on the basis of the Benefit hypothesis (according to the respectively decision types and voting ratios), facilitates the BAS in the elaboration of the Lean Business Case (LBC). The LBC contains, among other things, a solution direction, a proposal for the minimum composition of the working group, and all information to topic to prioritize.

3) The MFF approves the LBC, and approves the amended, prioritized portfolio.

4) The Topic Manager and his working group are responsible for the full realization of the topic. It follows the principles of SAFe/Agile from initiation at the MFF to with the realization.

See here for an extensive presentation that explains the new way of working. Name of document: Working method Bureau Appointments System.

Consensus is that sector releases are limited as much as possible and kept as small as possible. For the cases where a “big bang release” is unavoidable, the implementation manager will have a role to bring the parties together. This is initiated by the Topic manager (TM) with his working group, which consists of all required market roles. The elaboration on this is still ongoing.

The MFF is an association that has been set up to allow various parties (with interests in the energy sector) to enter into consultations in order to reach joint market agreements that lead to an effective, efficient and reliable electronic exchange of energy data. These agreements relate to both system processes and data sharing processes. In its activities, the MFF is supported by the BAS (Agreement System Administrator) for the full implementation of decisions taken within the MFF. This concerns coordination, facilitation and financing. The follow-up of the services is carried out through the operational consultation. The operational consultation is responsible for transparent discussion of the portfolio, discussion and approval of any minor deviations and the informal evaluation of the BAS support provided. The consultation also determines when topics are of sufficient quality for discussion in the MFF. Finally, this is the escalation channel for Topic Managers if sufficient market support cannot be realized within the working group.

We work with a long-term planning that is periodically revised to maintain the service and prioritization within MFF/BAS. This longer-term planning has yet to take shape in practice, with the starting point being a redesign of the current NEDU issues and finalized with input from the members. MFF is responsible for the portfolio. If there are too many topics, or too few resources, this will be raised by MFF members, workgroup members, or the BAS.

This is one of the most important elements that will emerge from the BAS in the MFF. The topics will be weighed up on the basis of an assessment framework (including acceptance criteria, social business case, etc.). These elements are part of the first elaboration of a topic (Benefit hypothesis). In all these decision-making documents, the customers have a decisive vote in the MFF.

Members are assigned to a particular group of participants (Type cfr. statutes) based on the role they fulfill in the market. Depending on the type of decision (departmental decisions) to be made in the MFF, certain participant groups will be affected or not. The participant group determines who is allowed to vote and with what weight and required quorum.

• The parties belonging to the Transmission and Distribution System Operator participant group will in any event designate the Distribution System Operator or Transmission System Operator market role. In addition, parties from this group of participants can also designate the Data User market role if they would like to use energy data in the long run.
• The parties belonging to the System Market Party participant group will certainly designate one or more of the following market roles: Balance Responsible Party, Licensed Supplier (called “license holder”), Non-licensed supplier (called “Supplier”), Closed Distribution System Operator and/or Metering Responsible Party. In addition, parties from this group of participants can also designate the Data User market role if they would like to use energy data in the long run.
• The parties belonging to the Non-System Party participant group will at least indicate the market role Data User (since it is assumed that these parties join in order to gain access to energy data).
• The parties belonging to the Representative-Business or Consumer group of participants cannot designate a market role when registering.

Decisions are divided into three types: (1) Internal operation, (2) system processes and (3) data sharing processes. Each type of decision has its own voting configuration. Depending on the type of decision, specific voting ratios, quora and groups of participants apply that may or may not vote (eg non-system parties may not vote on system-process decisions). The details of how voting takes place per decision type can be found in the statutes and the internal regulations.

The veto right no longer applies in the new operation.

Your vote will be divided equally among the other parties within the relevant participant group. Each party is given equal voting weight within the participant group and is therefore allocated an equal share of your voting weight.

All collective votes will be divided equally among the other participant groups if no quorum applies. There is only a quorum for decisions on internal operations for the participant groups: Transmission and distribution system operators, system market parties and non-system parties. If the quorum is not met, the vote will be postponed to the next (ad hoc) MFF, whereby the quorum for this decision will then lapse. This is to guarantee effectiveness.

Four groups will be given voting rights: the source holders of the data, the representative business participant group, the representative consumer participant group and the data users. The source holder is the party that manages the register containing the data. The data users are the parties that have designated “data user” as a market role (this automatically includes the non-system parties and includes all Transmission and Distribution System Operators and system market parties that have designated a data user as a market role, among other things). A source holder cannot also vote as data users in his own department. Each decision is therefore only voted from one capacity.

A voting Member can grant a limited power of attorney to another (legal) person to vote on its behalf. This limited power of attorney given by the Member can only relate to one general meeting. This limited power of attorney must be given in writing and submitted to the board before the vote. In addition, a representative may give a standing power of attorney to any person within the organization of such Member legal entity to vote on his/her behalf.

Each organization can only vote in one capacity per decision. For example, a metering manager who is also registered as a data user and has to vote for a data-part decision that affects the registers of the metering responsible party, will only be able to vote in the capacity of register administrator and therefore no longer in the capacity of data user. If it concerns a data part decision that does not affect the registers of the metering responsible party, he can vote in the capacity of “data user”.

• During the month of March, transfer meetings are ongoing with the individual NEDU
  committees and task groups.
• Week 9 – 11: grouping issues in Topics and prioritization with delegation from the SPC.
• Week 12: introducing topic proposal and prioritization in the Taskforce for adoption.
• Week 12 – 13: Topics are assigned to Topic Managers.
• Week 13 – end of April: compilation of the topic working groups by the Topic Manager.

The details of the first MFF session (beginning of April) will conclude the market dialogue sessions and will therefore be open to all parties. The main purpose of this session is to introduce the already registered members to each other and to explain the preparatory actions in the run-up to the first official MFF meeting (end of April).

The workload is estimated at 0.1 – 0.2 FTE. This is an estimate for the first two working years in which a few things will still have to be shaped and includes participation in the meetings (including preparation and follow-up), optional participation in internal MFF committees (such as the appointment advisory committee, disputes committee…) and follow-up of the topic working groups that will elaborate decisions taken in the MFF.

The representatives are expected to provide continuity and to participate actively in the MFF meetings and the related preparatory and follow-up tasks. The representatives are also expected to contribute to the general MFF operation in addition to the meeting by filling in roles within the various committees (eg appointment advisory committee, remuneration committee…). To this end, each representative must have sufficient availability, decision-making authority & seniority to allow the MFF decision-making process to proceed with sufficient guarantees. An intrinsic attitude to cooperation is expected from the broader context of the energy market and energy transition. Furthermore, synergies with the current range of tasks are a plus, conflicts of interest with other activities should be avoided and a good knowledge of the energy (data) market and its trends is important. Characteristic of the representatives are integrity, solution-oriented approach, capacity to actively express his/her opinion and having a broad network.

In the MFF regulations that one receives, there is a profile for MFF representatives. There will also be an onboarding program to clarify how we work together. Grid operators are already taking this step at the forefront by making joint agreements here and not participating in the MFF separately. However, this is not enforced on parties that register now, except for affiliates. Voting ratios are fixed, so that numbers of representatives have no impact on the vote.

The development of the central exchange layer will start in the first half of 2022. A lead time of at least one year is expected here, with the intention
to start from the already existing EDSN MVP on consent management. To this end, we first plan to launch a technical audit to verify the future-proofing of the MVP with regard to the target functionality and expected volume of transactions that must be able to be performed over the platform.