Industry Dialogue on xoserve services – Work Plan

1. Industry Dialogue on xoserve services – Work Plan 24 October 2006

2. Objectives • To enable all parties to participate and contribute to the deliverables outlined by Ofgem. • Agree a realistic work plan structure leading up to the initial presentation on 5 December 2006. • Maximise wider industry participation • Ideally, gain agreement from all parties, and ultimately generate reflective outcomes.

3. Benefits and Issues Benefits • Managable workloads • Structured plan ensures all issues are covered • Flexibility around plan • Allows the industry to air individual views on future arrangements Risks • Time Element – Lack of sufficient time to deliver / discuss all deliverables in high levels of detail • Attendance – Need to ensure / encourage consistent industry participation to maximise viewpoints and help deliver effective conclusions

4. Work Plan • Intention to conduct three ‘work group meetings’ between now and 5 December 2006 • Option of additional fourth meeting late November. • Fortnightly meetings enable development work to be done between meetings. • Joint Office to facilitate and overlook the process based on the work plan

5. Work Plan Timeline Deliverables Final Report Initial Presentation Initial Report Timeframe December / January October / November Development WGM C WGM A WGM tbc WGM tbc WGM B

6. Development Phase - Work Group Meeting A • October 24, 2006 • Service Lines – The scope of the services currently provided, discussion surrounding existing output, potential new output, expectations and feasibility. • Standards of Service – The current standards of service for xoserve systems.

7. Work Group Meeting B • November 8, 2006 • To build on developments of first work group and development phase • Development of Service Lines – In terms of costs, efficiencies, potential gains and standards. • Principles of User Pays –Discussion regarding potential frameworks, Objectives, Models • Governance and Transparency of User Pays – Governance arrangements for user pays services and transparency of those services.

8. Work Group Meeting C • November 22, 2006 • Summary of previous meetings. • Application of User Pays principles to service lines. • Operating Efficiences need to be considered and discussed with a view to developing a potential framework • Need to ensure that all deliverables are met and have been considered as far as reasonably possible. • Need for additional meeting prior to presentations.

9. Outcomes • Moving forwards, details of additional meetings will be developed once the Initial Presentation phase has been completed to reflect developments. • Initial Presentation to be presented at Ofgem to reflect industry views – given by industry. • Initial and Final Report to be developed by the Joint Office to reflect all views aired throughout the dialogue phase.

10. Summary • The Work Plan enables all parties to effectively express their opinion surrounding the outlined deliverables, in an open discussion format. • The structure enables best use of the limited time available to deliver to the requested deadlines. • Relies on all parties to prepare and understand material prior to attending meetings to ensure a valued output. • Joint Office chair ensures all views expressed are taken into consideration as part of the whole process.