The purpose of a harmonised balance settlement is to facilitate more efficient business processes, and pave the way for a common Nordic retail market for electricity. In addition, a common balance settlement boost the competition for retailers that offers services in these countries.
The settlement is operated by a common company eSett Oy which is located in Helsinki. The Nordic transmission system operators Fingrid, Statnett and Svenska Kraftnät are the owners of eSett Oy with equal amount of shares. eSett Oy handles the daily settlement operations, whilst Statnett is responsible for the functioning of the balance settlement in Norway. The NBS project had a go-live date on May the 1st 2017, and metering grid areas (MGA) was implemented simultaneously. MGA is a new grid structure to facilitate an efficient balance settlement.