Phil Bishop
posted this
14 December 2022
Hi Jordan
First of all, the case files you highlight are not duplicates. To state the obvious, they have different Case IDs and different run times (see RunDateTime in image below) - clearly two different cases.
But they do both pertain to the same 5-min interval (the 2nd 5-min interval as it happens) of trading period 17 on 7 Dec 2022 - see the column called IntervalDateTime in image below.
It is my understanding that RTD cases are run on a schedule every 5 minutes (i.e. automatically) and whenever the operator on the desk at the system operator hits the go button. This can give rise to two RTD cases for the same 5-min interval. See the column in image below called CaseName - the first has Auto in the name while the second has Oper (presumably short for Operator).
You should be aware that not all RTD cases get published. Again it is my understanding, the RTD cases are published if a dispatch instruction is derived from the case. With real-time pricing, an RTD case is always published for the first 5-min interval in a trading period, and some indeterminate number of cases are published thereafter for that period. Although we've never seen it, I believe it is conceivable that an entire trading period could go by with just a single RTD schedule being published - if that were to happen, the dispatch prices from that single case would be the interim/final prices for that period.
Typically we see 4 or 5 RTD cases per trading period and it is not uncommon to see more than one per 5-min interval.
I think the notion of a 5-min interval is now a bit redundant. It seems to me it's a holderover from the pre real-time pricing days when 5-min or indicativce prices were generated and published every 5 minutes.
Some of the narrative here, here, and here might also be instructive.
Phil