Does TenneT approve settlement software?

No. TenneT recognises BRPs and registers the IT carriers that exchange messages for them. Any system that passes the qualification scenarios on TenneT's test platform can be used.

How often does TenneT send imbalance data?

Every working day for the previous calendar day, before 17:00, with updated metering data on the fifth working day and final data before 15:00 on the tenth working day (Systeemcode elektriciteit 2026, article 10.24).

When is a month of supply final?

For connections with profile allocation, the reconciliation is settled by the tenth working day of month M+5, with payment on the first Tuesday after that (article 10.26).

What happens if I send no energy programme?

TenneT uses 0 MWh for every imbalance settlement period of the next day, and a penalty of EUR 1,000 plus EUR 200 per full hour of delay applies (articles 10.12 and 10.31).

Knowledge

Which software do you need for TenneT imbalance settlement and reconciliation?

Short answer: There is no TenneT-approved list of settlement software. The rules are in the Systeemcode elektriciteit 2026, and they are precise: an energy programme before 14:30 every day, an imbalance overview from TenneT on the first, fifth and tenth working day after each delivery day, allocation data from the grid operators that you must check against your own connection register, reconciliation of profiled connections in month M+5, and a weekly imbalance invoice. Software is right for the job when it does all of that without a person copying files.

Last updated: 5 October 2026 Author: Rainer Notter, Product Director at Engrate.

Who does what

Since the Energiewet and the Systeemcode elektriciteit 2026, the Dutch codes call the role balanceringsverantwoordelijke; the market still says BRP or programmaverantwoordelijke. TenneT, the transmission system operator, grants the recognition and keeps the register (articles 10.2 and 10.3). A connected party that does not carry balance responsibility itself transfers it to a BRP (article 10.4). The grid operators compile the metering data per allocation point; TenneT determines the imbalance and the price. The path to recognition is in how to become a BRP in the Netherlands.

The daily rhythm

Energy programme. Every day before 14:30 you submit the energy programme for the next day (article 10.12). If TenneT receives none, it uses 0 MWh for every imbalance settlement period of the next day. A late programme costs EUR 1,000 plus EUR 200 for every full hour of delay; a rejected programme costs EUR 1,000, and another EUR 1,000 if no programme that can be approved follows by 24:00 the same day (article 10.31).
Imbalance overview. Each working day TenneT compiles, per BRP, an overview of the previous calendar day: the approved energy programme, the metering data received from the grid operators, the imbalance and the imbalance adjustment, the imbalance price for every settlement period and the total amount (article 10.24). It arrives before 17:00 on the first working day after the delivery day, again before 17:00 on the fifth working day with updated metering data, and before 15:00 on the tenth working day with the final data. After a weekend or a public holiday, the first overview covers those days as well.
Imbalance price. The price per MWh follows the regeltoestand of each 15-minute period: the price for downward regulation when TenneT only regulated down, the price for upward regulation when it only regulated up, and separate rules when it did both (articles 10.28 and 10.29). Whether you pay or receive depends on the direction of your deviation.

Allocation data and your checks

This part is for a BRP with grid connections; a trade-only BRP has no allocation points, so TenneT asks it to qualify neither allocation nor reconciliation. The grid operators send metering data per allocation point for your portfolio. The code expects you to check them: did the grid operator attribute the volumes according to the data in your own connection register (article 10.25)? If data you expected are missing, or data arrive that you did not expect, you file a revision request with that grid operator, which handles it within two working days (article 10.16). You can object to the tenth-working-day data until 16:00 of the day you receive them. A request later than five working days after the data were sent is not taken up, unless the error could not reasonably be spotted in time. This is where settlement software most often falls short: it stores the files but does not compare them with the register.

Reconciliation

For connections with profile allocation, the grid operator uses meter readings for month M that are established by the last day of month M+3 (article 10.26). By the last working day of M+4 it sends the total reconciliation volume to the BRP and to TenneT. By the tenth working day of M+5 TenneT sends the totals, the reconciliation price for normal and low hours and the amount to pay or receive; payment is due on the first Tuesday after that. Connections with smart-meter allocation follow a two-step schedule, aggregated by the sixth working day of the second and the fifth month after the reconciliation month (article 10.27). A month of supply is therefore only final about half a year later, and your margin calculation has to carry it that long.

The weekly invoice

TenneT invoices imbalance weekly, for weeks that run from Saturday to Friday; the costs are set out in what it costs to become a BRP in the Netherlands (in Dutch). Your software should tie each invoice back to the daily overviews it rests on, and to the collateral TenneT holds for you.

What the software must do

Build and submit the energy programme, and read TenneT's approval or rejection in time to correct it before 24:00.
Receive the three imbalance overviews per delivery day, keep every version, and compare TenneT's imbalance with your own position from trades and forecasts.
With grid connections: store the allocation data per allocation point, check them against your connection register and raise revision requests within the deadlines.
With grid connections: track the reconciliation of every month until M+5 and book the settlement against the right month.
Reconcile the weekly invoices with the daily data and the collateral.
Exchange all of it as XML with TenneT's MMC-hub, through your own connection or through an IT carrier; see what an IT carrier is and the BRP qualification test.

How Engrate does it

Engrate is a registered IT carrier for BRPs in the Netherlands. The platform submits the energy programme and receives TenneT's imbalance overviews, the grid operators' allocation data and the reconciliation data, and makes them available next to your own position through one REST API and a console, per quarter hour. More on the product: Energy Market Communication.