MHHS: Making flexibility pay

Half-hourly settlement creates new opportunities for customer savings and stronger supplier economics. That work lays the foundation for the next challenge: turning market reform into lasting value for customers and suppliers.   

Paolo Colella – Chief Revenue, EMEA

Three things to know

1. MHHS strengthens the case for flexible tariffs but does not change a tariff or bill on its own.
2. The most compelling offer is one whose saving the customer can realistically achieve.
3. Customer savings and supplier margin need to be assessed together, and the bill is where the result becomes visible.

A driver plugs in their electric car before bed. Charging starts overnight, during their tariff’s cheaper window. By morning, the car is ready. When the bill arrives, the saving is clear.

For the household, it is a useful offer that fits everyday life. For the supplier, it is demand served at a time the tariff was designed to encourage. Market-wide half-hourly settlement (MHHS) can help suppliers create more of that alignment.

Getting the market ready has required substantial work across qualification, testing, systems and operations. That achievement is the foundation for the next chapter: turning market reform into lasting customer and commercial value.

A better understanding of value 

Flexible tariffs already exist. MHHS strengthens the commercial incentive to develop them by making settlement more closely reflect when electricity is consumed. It does not automatically change a customer’s tariff or bill, but it gives suppliers a stronger basis for connecting the timing of demand with the offers they bring to market. 

A household with an electric vehicle may value a predictable overnight charging window. Another may benefit from shifting appliance use. A household with little flexibility may be better served by an offer that prioritises simplicity and certainty. 

Recognising those differences is commercially valuable. The most compelling offer is one that delivers savings a customer can realistically achieve. 

Make the saving personal 

Consider an illustrative household choosing an electric vehicle tariff. The overnight rate attracts attention. The more useful question is what that rate means for the household’s total electricity costs. 

How much charging will fall within the cheaper window? What will the rest of the household’s consumption cost? How much of the projected saving depends on changing their routine? 

Using the household’s own consumption data, where available, makes those questions more relevant to the customer.  That clarity helps customers choose with confidence. It also gives suppliers a sounder basis for forecasting how the tariff will perform.

“The strongest flexible tariff connects a saving the customer can achieve with economics the supplier can sustain.” 

Keep the value working 

The relationship does not end when the customer switches. A new job can change charging times. A heat pump can change the balance of consumption. Winter can alter how much electricity is used outside a cheaper window. 

If a customer’s expected saving narrows, the supplier should be able to establish why. Perhaps a charging schedule needs adjusting. Perhaps the household would benefit from a different offer. Or perhaps missing meter data or a tariff configuration issue needs attention. 

Distinguishing those situations allows the supplier to offer relevant advice, explain the bill clearly or make a correction where one is needed. For the customer, it means whether they are getting the benefit they signed up for and understanding why if they are not For the business, it supports retention, reduces avoidable repeat contact and reveals ways to improve tariff design. 

Bring the economics into the same picture 

Customer value and supplier value need to be assessed together. A tariff can attract customers because its cheaper periods already suit their routines. Another may encourage a meaningful shift in consumption. Both can have a place in a supplier’s portfolio, provided their economics are understood. 

The important question is how actual performance compares with the assumptions behind the offer. 

Together, these measures tell the suppliers more about a tariff’s success than customer take-up alone. They show which offers perform well, which customers benefit most and where communication or design could improve the result, so the next offer is built on evidence from customers already served. 

Billing makes the benefit visible 

Much of the work behind a successful flexible tariff is invisible to the customer. The bill is where its financial outcome becomes tangible. 

That gives billing an important role in delivering the proposition. Tariff rules, effective dates, time windows and consumption data must come together correctly, and customer-facing teams need the evidence that explains the result. As tariffs become more sophisticated, the ability to manage that complexity accurately becomes increasingly important. An accurate calculation establishes the foundation. A clear explanation helps the customer understand what they gained and how their use influenced the outcome. 

Gentrack works at the point where those elements meet: core billing, meter data, tariff rules and customer accounts. From that perspective, the opportunity is to connect the offer made at the start of the relationship with the experience delivered throughout it. 

“A flexible tariff earns lasting value when customers can see the benefit and suppliers can understand what delivers it.” 

For the household charging its car overnight, success is a saving that makes sense when the bill arrives. For the supplier, it is an offer that earns trust and a sustainable return. 

Making those outcomes work together is how flexibility pays. 

• 1. MHHS Programme, Qualification Approach and Plan (M14, 28 October 2026), accessed October 2026.
• 2. Elexon, Market-wide Half Hourly Settlement and the BSC (migration complete 7 May 2027), accessed October 2026.