Do energy suppliers have to change their systems by 2030?

The short answer

There is no 2030 rule that says suppliers must move to new software, and nothing that says they must move to SaaS. The date most people are reacting to is SAP’s. Suppliers running SAP IS U have to leave the ECC platform underneath it before SAP’s support runs out, which for most means a decision now and a migration well before 2030. Everyone else faces a series of smaller but firm changes: new settlement arrangements, new market interfaces, new prepayment systems and new invoicing rules. Those mean upgrading what you have, not necessarily replacing it.

The hard deadline: suppliers on SAP IS U

SAP’s mainstream support for ECC, and therefore for IS U, ends at the end of 2027. Paid extended support runs to the end of 2030. After that SAP offers only customer specific maintenance, with no new patches or legal changes, plus a narrow transition option to 2033 that runs only in SAP’s own cloud and is aimed at the very largest estates. S/4HANA, the successor, is supported until at least 2040.

That leaves an IS U supplier with three real routes: move to S/4HANA Utilities, on premise, hosted or through RISE with SAP; move to a SaaS billing platform such as Kraken; or buy time with extended or third party support while it decides. The dates and the choices are set out in full in SAP IS U end of support, and our independent platform comparison covers how the platforms differ.

Great Britain: the changes every supplier faces

• Market wide half hourly settlement. MHHS sets three dates: readiness at M14 on 28 October 2026, every MPAN migrated by M15 on 7 May 2027, and a four month settlement timetable from M16 on 2 July 2027, which means settlement errors surface far faster than they do today. See MHHS readiness.
• Electronic invoicing. From 1 April 2029, VAT invoices to business and public sector customers must be structured electronic invoices rather than PDFs or paper, with the detailed rules to follow from HMRC. Household bills are outside the first phase. Any supplier with business customers will need its billing and finance systems to produce them. See e invoicing in the UK and Ireland.

Ireland: the market’s own systems are moving

• ESB Networks’ move to S/4HANA. The central retail market system every supplier connects to runs on IS U. ESB Networks’ Retail Market System Development Plan 2026 to 2030 says that platform leaves extended support in 2030, and the migration to S/4HANA Utilities, which began in 2026, is due to finish by the end of 2027. What it means for suppliers will be set out through the industry governance meetings during 2027.
• Market messaging upgrades. The same plan upgrades the market messaging hub, and suppliers have to upgrade their own EMMA servers, in test and production, to stay connected.
• Gas prepayment. Gas Networks Ireland is replacing ageing gas pay as you go meters with connected meters from 2027, with the rollout planned to run to around 2030 (CRU decision CRU202561). Suppliers must provide the prepayment billing, balances and top up services for the new meters, and run old and new arrangements side by side during the transition.
• Dynamic pricing. Since 1 October 2025, suppliers with more than 200,000 customers have had to offer a dynamic price contract built on half hourly day ahead prices (CRU2024121).
• Energy sharing and multiple supply contracts. The 2024 EU electricity market design rules give customers the right to share energy and to hold more than one supply contract. ESB Networks says these cannot be layered on top of today’s market design, so a new design is likely. Ireland has not yet written the rules into law, so there are no dates, but supplier billing and registration processes will have to follow.
• Electronic invoicing. Revenue’s roadmap starts with large corporates’ domestic business invoices in November 2028, extends to all VAT registered businesses trading business to business within the EU in November 2029, and reaches the full EU requirements on 1 July 2030.

For how the Irish market fits together, see how the Irish electricity market works and smart meters in Ireland, and for how we support suppliers there, our Ireland page.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is the one part of the UK still without a smart meter rollout, and that is changing. The Department for the Economy’s smart meter design plan decision, published in April 2026, puts NIE Networks in charge of procuring and installing smart meters and the IT systems behind them, with a detailed programme plan to follow. No dates are set yet, but suppliers will need the data, tariff and billing capability to use half hourly information once the meters arrive.

So does every supplier need a new platform?

No, but every supplier needs a platform that can carry the next four years of change. Three questions settle it. Is your billing platform supported by its vendor beyond 2030? Can it handle half hourly data and pricing without workarounds? Can it absorb market changes like these without a rebuild each time? If the answer to any of them is no, a platform decision is coming whether or not a regulator forces it, and it is far better made on your timetable than on a vendor’s.

Common questions

Do all energy suppliers have to change software by 2030?

No. Nothing in Great Britain, Northern Ireland or Ireland forces a platform replacement by 2030. The hard date applies to suppliers on SAP IS U, whose paid extended support from SAP ends at the end of 2030.

Do suppliers have to move to SaaS?

No. Moving to S/4HANA Utilities meets the SAP deadline as fully as moving to a SaaS platform. SaaS is a choice about operating model and cost, not a regulatory requirement.

Why does 2030 matter so much in Ireland?

Because the market’s central retail system runs on IS U too. ESB Networks is moving it to S/4HANA Utilities by the end of 2027, so every supplier has interface and testing work ahead, whatever platform it runs.

What changes do suppliers in Great Britain face before 2030?

MHHS, with every MPAN migrated by 7 May 2027 and four month settlement from 2 July 2027, and structured electronic invoicing for business and public sector customers from 1 April 2029.

Which Irish changes already have dates?

Dynamic price contracts for suppliers with over 200,000 customers since 1 October 2025, new gas prepayment meters from 2027 to around 2030, ESB Networks’ S/4HANA move by the end of 2027 and electronic invoicing from November 2028 to July 2030.

Related reading: SAP IS U end of support, SAP ECC end of life options, SAP S/4HANA Utilities migration, half hourly meters explained.

If you are weighing a platform decision against these dates, we can show you which of them actually bind you, in what order, and what that means for your programme. We sit on the client side, independent of every vendor.

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