Energy Stream Designs

The Replacement of the Settlement System (RSS) is a strategic project that will sustain and integrate IESO’s settlements services by addressing issues with the existing settlement solution, create transparency and efficiencies in the process to address settlement statement disagreements, and enable the implementation of the new settlement design requirements required to deliver settlements for the up-coming Market Renewal Program (MRP). Following purposeful engagement with stakeholders to finalize the detailed design, the project is now in the Implementation Phase.

An overview of the specific changes planned by the RSS project, can be found in the July 21, 2022 Stakeholder Engagement presentation on RSS or view the recording (minute 22 to 60).

Changes under RSS for Market Participants

RSS will implement a number of changes for Market Participants as listed below:

• Amendments to Online Settlement Form submissions
• Amendments to Notice of Disagreement System and Process
• Amendments to the Settlement Dispute and Resettlements Processes
• Amendments to Settlement Charge Types and Equations
• NEW – Recalculated Settlement Statements (RCSS) will be introduced
• Amendments to Preliminary and Final Settlement Statements

The IESO will be supporting these changes by publishing important information and training materials to aid the transition for Market Participants.

Project Schedule

Update: The original RSS In-Service date has been delayed; the revised RSS In-Service date of May 1, 2023 has now been announced. There will be opportunities for training from the IESO in the new year, ahead of the implementation date.

How can Market Participants prepare for RSS Changes?

Eleven revised documents, including Settlement Payment calendars, Data File Format Specifications, and IESO Charge Types and Equations, have been posted to the IESO’s Pending Changes - Documents webpage. Market Participants are encouraged to have their Settlement staff, as well as any third party service providers, review these materials and consider:

• Which amendments to Online Forms will impact their business processes
• How to modify any existing automated tools, processes, and downstream systems to reflect amendments to the technical specifications for charge types and data files
• How to revise internal business processes to incorporate the new Notice of Disagreement (NoD) windows and limitation period
• What will be the frequency of the new Recalculated Settlement Statement (RCSS) Statements

Additional Published Documents

The following market manuals are draft versions being posted here to support market participant readiness in preparation for the RSS project implementation in 2023. The IESO will officially implement these changes through the Baseline process (Timeline TBD), which will allow for market participant comments and feedback.

• Market Manual 2: Market Administration, Part 2.1: Dispute Resolution
• Market Manual 3: Metering, Part 3.9: Conformance Monitoring
• Market Manual 5: Settlements, Part 5.7:  Settlement Process
• Market Manual 5: Settlements, Part 5.8: Settlement Invoicing
• Market Manual 5: Settlements, Part 5.10: Settlement Disagreements
• Market Manual 5: Settlements, Part 5.5: Physical Market Programs (Coming soon)

Sample Statement and Data Files

The IESO has prepared typical sample settlement statements and data files as part of RSS go-live readiness to help better prepare Market Participants when the new system is in effect. The supplemented zip files are separated by generic Market Participant types as follows:

• Dispatchable Generators
• Dispatchable Loads
• Local Distribution Companies (LDC) and Transmitters
• Traders
• Non-Dispatchable Generators
• Non-Dispatchable Loads

Each zip file contain the samples grouped by different settlement timelines for the trade date of September 30, 2022. The different settlement timelines are as follows:

• Preliminary Settlement (PSS)
• Final Settlement (FSS)
• Resettlement Statement 1 (RCSS-1)
• Resettlement Statement 2 (RCSS-2)
• End of Life Resettlement (RCSS-FINAL)

For further details and descriptions of the sample statements and data files, please see our additional document.

September Market Trials

The RSS Market Trials were conducted from September 6 to September 30, and were open to all IESO-registered organizations, but targeted towards LDC and other participants who use online form submissions.  Volunteers came forward from 36 distinct Market Participant organizations to register for Market Trials, returning back a total of 52 Test Cases on the new system. 

The RSS Market Trials involved four weeks of structured testing where Market Participants tested the new and updated Online Settlement Forms, as well as changes to the Notice of Disagreements system. The IESO also provided a sample set of PSS, FSS, and RCSS statement files that Market Participants used to verify the updated format and newly introduced charge types (details are within the 11 online documents found in the links above). Market Participants were also encouraged to take this opportunity to test and revise their own internal business processes and downstream systems against these changes. RSS Test Cases, Sample Statement files, and draft User Guides were provided to participants as part of the Market Trials activities.

Market Trials are now concluded, and no further testing is anticipated by those volunteers, other than for their own internal systems.  Submitting both NODs and Online Forms worked reasonably well with only minor issues, while the sample Statements identified issues of more significance.  IESO is now addressing the testing results and defects noted, and implementing system corrections in advance of RSS Go-Live.  The initiative and hard work of the volunteers is greatly appreciated by the IESO, and serves the interests of the entire Ontario electricity market, towards having a well-functioning end solution.

For More Information

More information, additional documents and next steps will be updated to this page as the RSS Project progresses. Please contact Customer.Relations@ieso.ca if you have questions about the RSS Project.