ISS 0018, Handling of Emergency Situations at Priority Customer Sites

1. ISS 0018, Handling of Emergency Situations at Priority Customer Sites “why can’t the emergency service contact the MAM directly and where appropriate undertake the repair at their direction”? ......Issues to consider • Competition • Immediate meter repair/replace on a National Grid Meter (NGM) without first gaining the permission of the Supplier could be seen as providing preferential treatment to NGM • To facilitate competition the Supplier should always reserve the right to approach another MAM • If it is a non-NGM meter that is faulty then National Grid Distribution (NGD) would not wish to repair/replace a third party meter (in the absence of a PEMS style agreement) • If a PEMS contract was in place the engineer would not need to contact the MAM directly but would go ahead with the job (on best endeavours basis) • If a PEMS contract was not in place the engineer would not contact the third party MAM directly as we would not wish to repair/replace outside of any contracted/written agreement • Suppliers have not expressed an interest in entering into an I&C PEMS agreement

2. Other issues • Any bipartite agreement with individual Suppliers would be difficult to administer • The on site engineer would not necessarily know the identity of the MAM • The engineer would also not necessarily know what individual agreements between NGD and Suppliers were current and in place • Complex I&C meter jobs are likely to tie up the emergency engineer • U6 PEMS is currently only provided on a best endeavours basis • The emergency engineer that initially attends site on the emergency call out may not have the required skill set to repair/replace the meter • Larger I&C meters are not carried as stock items on vans