Code Administration Code of Practice (CACoP)

As part of our role as a Critical Friend, we provide parties with a number of services, from unbiased and constructive advice to one-to-one training and support.  You can find more information at our dedicated web page here.

ElectraLink publishes all documents using plain English, where possible. Any industry terms used within our documents are defined for ease of the reader. You can also find typical SPAA terminology within the SPAA Main Body (Clause 1.1) or Schedule 29 (Technical Glossary).

​Information such as meeting papers is published within the agreed timescales of the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and is available on the SPAA website.

Representatives from the codes administered by ElectraLink attend and contribute to the CACoP meetings, in order to ensure the document remains fit for purpose and to feed in any party views on the procedures outlined within the text.

ElectraLink encourages the use of Working Groups to develop more robust solutions where required, as well as being readily available to aid parties when submitting or querying a Change Proposal. We also have the option of creating a Draft Change Proposal to allow for further development to a suggested change, prior to a formal Change Proposal being raised.

​Under the code, the Proposer holds the decision on how to progress their change, including how the solution is developed and whether to vote, defer or withdraw their Change Proposal.

​If a SPAA Party wishes to raise an alternative solution to an existing SCP, the process outlined in Clause 9 of the SPAA is followed. The Code Administrator will liaise with the Proposer of the alternate solution and the SPAA Change Board.

​Any cost estimates are provided within the change documentation to help parties make a final decision or to consult further if required.

ElectraLink, as the Code Administrator for SPAA, coordinates with legal advisors to produce and develop any legal text, for party review, prior to voting on a Change Proposal.

All SPAA Change Proposals (SCP) are subject to agreed Impact Assessment periods. For each SCP, SPAA Parties will receive a minimum of ten working days to assess and submit comments to the SPAA Secretariat.

The SPAA has three scheduled releases a year, with the option for extraordinary releases if required.

ElectraLink in its capacity as a Code Administrator, reports on an annual basis to Ofgem on a number of metrics.

The SPAA team feeds into the Central Modification Register which is hosted on the Master Registration Agreement (MRA) website and details current changes for visibility to other codes. Additionally, ElectraLink follows the Code Administration Joint Working Practice for any Change Proposal that has cross code impacts.​

Code Administrators shall support prospective energy innovators by providing guidance on their codes to any applicant including those not acceded to said code(s). Ofgem will act as the co-ordinating and externally-facing body and will be responsible for receiving and assessing information from applicants. For applicants seeking to trial an innovative product or service, Code Administrators will assess the appropriateness of the proposed temporary derogation and provide advice to the Code Panel who will provide a recommendation to Ofgem.