NOTICE DATE:  September 11, 2008

 

NOTICE TYPE:  M-B091108-01 Informational:  Plan for re-establishing NAESB connectivity with ERCOT

 

CLASSIFICATION: Public

 

SHORT DESCRIPTION:  NAESB connectivity preparations for Hurricane Ike

 

INTENDED AUDIENCE:  TDSPs and CRs

 

DAY AFFECTED:  Beginning September 11, 2008 through the end of hurricane emergency efforts

 

LONG DESCRIPTION:  In preparations for Hurricane Ike, ERCOT is preparing for the scenario where its trading partners may lose connectivity to ERCOT via NAESB.  To facilitate an efficient restoration of connectivity, ERCOT asks impacted Market Participants to utilize this communication path when they are prepared to re-establish NAESB connectivity as well as for the proactive measures requesting ERCOT disable NAESB connectivity.

 

·          ERCOT will follow NAESB protocols. 

·          If NAESB connectivity is interrupted, ERCOT will attempt to send the file three (3) times within a 15 minute period. 

·          After a period with three (3) unsuccessful send attempts, ERCOT will attempt to contact the Market Participant/Service Provider technical contact listed in the entity’s Testing Worksheet (TW) on file with ERCOT prior to disabling the Market Participant.  ERCOT will attempt to establish this contact via phone.  If this is not possible, we will also send a follow up e-mail for informational purposes. 

·          If communication is not established via phone, connectivity with the trading partner will be temporality disabled. 

 

ERCOT will maintain a list of those Market Participants that were disabled in the event the Market Participant has issues with their e-mail systems.  When connectivity issues are encountered, Market Participant data is safely moved to a temporary directory so that files are correctly resubmitted when NAESB communications are re-established. 

 

When a Market Participant is prepared to re-establish connectivity, they should contact the ERCOT Help Desk (512-248-6800 or [log in to unmask]).  In the communication, please request that “NAESB connectivity be re-established Market Participant DUNS number ________ or NAESB connectivity be re-established Service Provider responsible for DUNS number _______”.  Please be sure to include all DUNS numbers for your entity.  When NAESB connectivity is re-established, ERCOT will send transactions that were placed into holding folders for that Market Participant.

 

Market Participants may also use the above process to proactively request their connectivity be temporarily disabled.  This should occur in the event that Market Participants anticipate NAESB connectivity issues and would like to prevent connections from being blocked due to unsuccessful NAESB connectivity attempts.  In this instance, Market Participants will need to contact the ERCOT Help Desk to request connectivity be disabled.  To re-enable NAESB connectivity, Market Participants should utilize the same process above by contacting the ERCOT Help Desk when systems are back up and operating.

 

Please note that the same Testing Worksheet contact will be used in this process as well.

 

ERCOT asks that all NAESB connectivity requests be made through the Help Desk so that the request can be directed to the appropriate on-call staff so as not to delay the process.

Please contact your Retail Account Manager with any questions.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:  If Market Participants are unable to utilize the Texas Market Link (TML), please notify the ERCOT Help Desk. If there are any issues that have a significant impact, please contact a system operator or your Account Manager. ERCOT staff will be available 24/7 for the duration of the hurricane emergency.

    

CONTACT:  If you have any questions, please contact your ERCOT Account Manager. You may also call the general ERCOT Client Services phone number at (512) 248-3900 or contact ERCOT Client Services via e-mail at [log in to unmask]

 

If you are receiving e-mail from an ERCOT distribution list that you no longer wish to receive, please follow this link in order to unsubscribe from this list: http://lists.ercot.com.

 

JR/JA