Overview
In deregulated utility markets, distributors exchange large volumes of business transactions with retail energy providers, market operators, and other participants to support customer choice and delivery operations.
Market transaction management helps the distributor:
- Exchange standardized EDI market transactions
- Automate communication with external market participants
- Support customer enrollment, switching, and service processing
- Manage service requests and account updates
- Process billing and usage information
- Comply with regional market rules and transaction standards
- Reduce manual processing and operational errors
The framework provided offers reusable core functionality while allowing market-specific customization and configuration.
Supported transaction types can vary by market implementation, but commonly include:
- Customer enrollments and drops
- Service starts, stops, and transfers
- Meter usage and consumption data
- Billing and payment information
- Customer account updates
- Service order requests
- Move-in and move-out requests
- Transaction acknowledgments and responses
Market-Specific Implementations
Although deregulated markets share many common business processes, each market operates under its own regulatory requirements, transaction standards, and implementation guidelines.
Market transaction messaging provides a common foundational framework that supports:
- Reusable transaction-processing functionality
- Shared integration patterns
- Standardized monitoring and error handling
- Configurable validation and business rules
This approach enables distributors to implement market-specific requirements while maintaining consistency across multiple deregulated markets.
Glossary
The table below lists a number of terms used in market transaction messaging.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Supplier |
The utility responsible for supplying power to the grid Also referred to as:
|
| Distributor |
The utility responsible for distribution of power within the market. Also referred to as:
|
| Retailer |
The company with which customers enroll to purchase electricity Also referred to as:
|
| Market Operator |
The organization in charge or managing and operating the market. Also referred to as:
|
| Service Provider | A generic term for an entity within a market. |
| Market Participant | A company participating in the electricity market. |
| Transaction | A message sent between market participants to perform business processes, such as customer enrollment or switching, sending usage, sending charges, sending payments, etc. See Supported Transactions for information about the specific types of transactions provided with MTM USD. |
Market Transaction Management Data and Objects
This section provides a high-level overview of the data and objects used by the Market Transaction Management US Distribution functionality.
Markets
The Market object is used to define a deregulated market which is a geographical area operating with a set of rules to manage premises and/or customers for a service type. Separate market instances are created for each geographic area and service type.
Market Participants
Market Participants are participants in a deregulated environment. Relationships between market participants are defined in a particular market record.
Inbound Market Messages
Inbound Market Messages capture instances of market messages received from an external source.
Outbound Market Messages
Outbound Market Messages capture instances of market messages sent from the system to an external source.
Market Message Type
Market Message Type are used to define the different types of market messages, both inbound and outbound, and to define the appropriate market message business object to use when creating objects of this type.
Market Processes
Market Processes capture instances of market processes that may be created to carry out business logic related to a specific inbound or an outbound market message.
Market Process Types
Market Process Type are used to define configuration related to processes that may be initiated to support steps that should be execute to support an inbound or an outbound market message. It defines the market process business object to use when creating market processes of this type. It may also define one or more market process event business objects to initiate events that are generated to support steps within the market process.
Market Process Events
Market Process Events are used to orchestrate individual events that may occur to support steps in a given market process, such as creating specific records to define a customer (account, premise, service point, service agreement, and so on).
Market Usage
Market Usage records are used to store usage based on market codes and values. This is typically for current data, as it's received into the system. Historical Market Usage records are created only on request as needed.
Market Charges
Market Charges are used to store charges based on market codes and values. These are typically the charges that appear on a customer bill. When a bill is canceled, the charges are pulled from here.
Market Payments
Market Payments are used to store and capture individual payments received/sent in an "820 Payment Order/Remittance Advice" transaction,
Market Configuration
Market Configurations are used to capture configuration needed to support specific types of market transactions. Each type of configuration use a specific business object that defines the information captured. Each type of configuration may define up to five key fields that may be used to uniquely identify an individual configuration instance.
Registration Points
A registration point is the single point at which a premise is registered in the system. Registration points operate at different levels in different markets. Some are based on the premise, some on the combination of premise and person, some on the meter ID, and so on.
Supported Transactions
MTM USD supports the following types of market transactions.
| EDI Transaction Number | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| EDI 814 | General Request/Response |
Used to manage customer enrollment, account maintenance, drops, move-ins, and supplier switches. Supported request types include:
|
| EDI 824 | Application/Advice | Used to transmit notifications or rejections regarding the status of a previously sent transaction (such as accepting or rejecting an 814 enrollment). |
| EDI 867 | Product Transfer Account Adjustment / Usage | Used to transfer historical customer load data (when requested by a supplier) and routine, actual or estimated monthly metered consumption to the Energy Service Provider (ESP). |
| EDI 810 | Invoice | Used to transmit bill amounts, monthly usage, and charge components. Depending on the market, it is sent from the utility to the supplier or vice versa. |
| EDI 820 | Payment Order/Remittance Advice | Used to transfer payment and allocation details between utilities, retail suppliers, or financial institutions, particularly in dual-billing scenarios or consolidated billing. |
| EDI 650 | Maintenance Service Order | Used to manage, request, and report maintenance-related actions |
| EDI 248 | Account Assignment/Inquiry and Service/Status | Used to assign accounts, update account details, and report on service or collection statuses |
Parent topic: Market Transaction Management - US Distribution