How do I switch IT carrier as a Dutch BRP without downtime?
Short answer: Your BRP acknowledgement, contract and collateral stay with you. Only the technical channel to TenneT changes. Register the new carrier with TenneT, let it set up transport certificates and run TenneT's test scenarios, run both carriers in parallel for a few weeks, then cut over on a quiet day you pick. Done this way, nothing stops.
What stays and what changes
Stays with you | Changes |
|---|---|
| BRP acknowledgement and BRP agreement | The IT carrier registered at TenneT |
| Financial security and the TenneT business account | Transport (SSL) certificates, provided by the new carrier |
| GLN and EIC codes | The system that sends and receives your MMC-hub messages |
| Signing (S/MIME) certificates | The interface to your own trading and portfolio systems |
| Your responsibility for all data |
That is the good news. A switch is an IT project, not a new market entry.
Step 1: Decide the scope and the date
List every process the old carrier runs for you: nominations, allocation, settlement and imbalance information, reconciliation, GLDPM, and any optional ones. Then pick a cut-over date. Avoid month ends, avoid days with known market changes, and leave room before your notice period with the old carrier ends.
Step 2: Register the new carrier with TenneT
TenneT keeps a register of IT carriers. You notify TenneT with the IT carrier registration form. The new carrier orders its transport certificates; you can reuse your existing signing certificates.
Step 3: Test the new carrier on your processes
TenneT does not require an explicit requalification when an existing BRP changes carrier. Running TenneT's scenarios for your processes on the Test & Qualification Facility (TQF) with the new carrier is still strongly recommended, so differences show up before your production messages do. If the carrier already runs these processes for other BRPs, this goes quickly. More on the qualification test.
Step 4: Run in parallel
For two to four weeks, the new carrier receives the same inputs and builds the same messages, but does not send them to production. Every day you compare: nominations, allocation, imbalance figures. Differences show up here, not in your first weekly imbalance invoice.
Step 5: Cut over
On the agreed date the new carrier sends, the old one stops. Keep the old carrier's access for a few weeks to receive late reconciliation data and to answer questions about past weeks. Check the first weekly imbalance invoice line by line.
Common mistakes
- Notice period first, plan second. The old contract ends before the new carrier is tested.
- No parallel run. The first mismatch costs real imbalance money.
- Forgotten optional processes. Availability or aFRR messages that the old carrier ran quietly.
- History left behind. Past allocations and settlement data you need for reconciliation and audits.
How Engrate does it
When a BRP switches to Engrate, we run the TenneT qualification scenarios ourselves, set up a parallel run against the current carrier, and agree the cut-over date with you. Your team reviews the comparison; it does not touch the tests. One REST API replaces the old interface, and the same API works for Germany and Sweden. More on the product: Energy Market Communication.