Elexon and Balancing and Energy Settlement in Great Britain with Peter Stanley (CEO @ Elexon)

Apr 3, 2025

Peter Stanley, the CEO of Elexon, dives into the critical role his organization plays in the UK's energy market, overseeing important balancing and settlement processes. He discusses the impact of rising renewable energy assets and the need for clear optimization rules. Peter highlights Elexon's evolution amidst changing grid dynamics, including the transition to half-hourly settlements and the integration of smart meters. He explores future trends in energy management with AI and dynamic tariffs, emphasizing the importance of flexibility in achieving decarbonization goals.

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ANECDOTE

Smart Meters Cut Billing Errors

Smart meters greatly reduce billing errors from manual meter reading mistakes found in dumb meters.
Machine learning detects large industrial meter errors in near real-time, preventing big settlements inaccuracies.

INSIGHT

Shift to Distributed Energy Assets

Energy assets are shifting from few large plants to thousands of smaller, distributed assets.
This creates huge data volumes and complexity in trading and settlement systems.

INSIGHT

Balancing Market Complexity Grows

The core role of balancing and settlement remains but complexity grows with more market participants and assets.
Replatforming to cloud-native microservices is essential to scale and manage this complexity.

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Battery storage and renewable energy assets are only as effective as the systems that optimize them, and to do this, there needs to be clear and effective rules on how this is determined. Elexon is responsible for the Balancing & Settlement Code, or BSC, a document outlining the rules of the balancing mechanism and imbalance pricing in Great Britain. With the rise of smaller, aggregated assets and the push towards net zero, the energy landscape is changing fast, and things like the BSC need to adapt too.

In this episode of Transmission, we’re joined by Peter Stanley, CEO of Elexon, to explore the critical role of optimisation and trading in energy markets. From day-to-day operations to long-term strategy, Peter shares insights on how Elexon supports grid flexibility, maximizes asset value, and navigates a rapidly evolving energy landscape. Over the conversation you’ll hear about:

The role of Elexon, how the company operates and the key processes it manages.
Detailed breakdown of what the settlement process looks like in Great Britain.
The impact of changing grid dynamics on Elexon's operations.
Elexon’s emerging role in facilitating local distributed flexibility markets.
Peter’s outlook on where optimization is headed in a changing energy landscape.

Mentioned in the episode

Peter highlights the fundraising efforts of Nyah & Danielle Lock who are taking part in the South West Coast 50 Ultra Challenge 2025, raising money for the Mardon Neuro-Rehabilitation Centre in Exeter.

You can find more information and they're just giving page here.

About our guest

Working at the heart of the GB energy industry, Elexon oversee The Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC),a legal contract all electricity participants must enter into in order to participate in the electricity market. For more information on what Elexon do, head to their website.

Peter Stanley is Chief Executive Officer of Elexon, joining Elexon's Executive team in 2016 and serving as Chief Operating Officer before assuming the role of CEO in 2023.

With over 35 years of experience in the electricity industry, Peter has a strong background in driving technology and data-focused transformations within the energy sector.

About Modo Energy

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage solutions understand the market - and make the most out of their assets.

All of our podcasts are available to watch or listen to on the Modo Energy site. To keep up with all of our latest updates, research, analysis, videos, podcasts, data visualizations, live events, and more, follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out The Energy Academy, our bite-sized video series breaking down how power markets work.