24 October 2006 Industry Dialogue on xoserve services – Work Plan

Objectives  To enable all parties to participate and contribute to the deliverables outlined by Ofgem.  Agree a realistic work plan structure leading up to the initial presentation on 5 December  Maximise wider industry participation  Ideally, gain agreement from all parties, and ultimately generate reflective outcomes.

Benefits and Issues Benefits  Managable workloads  Structured plan ensures all issues are covered  Flexibility around plan  Allows the industry to air individual views on future arrangements Risks  Time Element – Lack of sufficient time to deliver / discuss all deliverables in high levels of detail  Attendance – Need to ensure / encourage consistent industry participation to maximise viewpoints and help deliver effective conclusions

Work Plan  Intention to conduct three ‘work group meetings’ between now and 5 December 2006  Option of additional fourth meeting late November.  Fortnightly meetings enable development work to be done between meetings.  Joint Office to facilitate and overlook the process based on the work plan

Work Plan Timeline October / November WGM A WGM B WGM C Initial Presentation Deliverables Timeframe Development Initial Report Final Report December / January WGM tbc

Development Phase - Work Group Meeting A  October 24, 2006  Service Lines – The scope of the services currently provided, discussion surrounding existing output, potential new output, expectations and feasibility.  Standards of Service – The current standards of service for xoserve systems.

Work Group Meeting B  November 8, 2006  To build on developments of first work group and development phase  Development of Service Lines – In terms of costs, efficiencies, potential gains and standards.  Principles of User Pays –Discussion regarding potential frameworks, Objectives, Models  Governance and Transparency of User Pays – Governance arrangements for user pays services and transparency of those services.

Work Group Meeting C  November 22, 2006  Summary of previous meetings.  Application of User Pays principles to service lines.  Operating Efficiences need to be considered and discussed with a view to developing a potential framework  Need to ensure that all deliverables are met and have been considered as far as reasonably possible.  Need for additional meeting prior to presentations.

Outcomes  Moving forwards, details of additional meetings will be developed once the Initial Presentation phase has been completed to reflect developments.  Initial Presentation to be presented at Ofgem to reflect industry views – given by industry.  Initial and Final Report to be developed by the Joint Office to reflect all views aired throughout the dialogue phase.

Summary  The Work Plan enables all parties to effectively express their opinion surrounding the outlined deliverables, in an open discussion format.  The structure enables best use of the limited time available to deliver to the requested deadlines.  Relies on all parties to prepare and understand material prior to attending meetings to ensure a valued output.  Joint Office chair ensures all views expressed are taken into consideration as part of the whole process.