Arvato Systems Offers its AEP MaKo Cloud as a Solution for the Future of Market Communication – Leipziger Stadtwerke Is Among the First Users

• New component of the Arvato Energy Platform® (AEP)
• Arvato Systems offers the AEP MaKo Cloud as an end-to-end solution for functional and technical market communication in the energy sector
• Leipziger Stadtwerke, the utility company serving the city of Leipzig, already implements the solution for the processes of two market roles

The Arvato Energy Platform® (AEP) is a solution from Arvato Systems that provides an IT framework for the energy sector enabling clients from all market roles to implement their use cases in a process-oriented architecture quickly, flexibly, and cost-effectively. AEP MaKo Cloud, the new central component, is already in use at Leipziger Stadtwerke.

The energy sector is increasingly gearing up for digitalization and is actively pushing numerous new business models. And there is no way for market participants to avoid handling market communication. The energy market has reached one of the major turning points in the process landscape, affecting all regulated use cases in the energy sector brought about by the requirements of new market communication regulations (MaKO 2020) of the Bundesnetzagentur (German Federal Network Agency). Further changes, including Redispatch 2.0, which involves new requirements for managing grid congestion, are already appearing on the horizon.

Utility companies are facing numerous challenges, such as the continual and timely maintenance of message communication. Regular adjustments to statutory requirements, such as format changes and process adaptations with the corresponding development of expertise and system upgrades, also play a major role. This results in high costs and workload in message management and in the processing of special cases or incorrect messages in some cases. The AEP MaKo Cloud offers a solution for all these issues.

“Over the past ten years, we have supplied our clients with B2B by Practice, an open source solution that provides them with a high degree of stability and integration capability in technical market communication. Our promise with the AEP MaKo Cloud is to deliver this for all their functional and technical processes of market communication in the future, regardless of the respective market role,” states Andreas Pöhner, Managing Director of the Arvato Systems company Next Level Integration GmbH, in view of the current developments.

The AEP MaKo Cloud is positioned as an end-to-end solution for market communication in accordance with statutory requirements. The focus is on low onboarding costs, high integration into existing solutions independent of the backend, and connectivity to future platforms. Thanks to its Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) functionalities, a special feature is the option of using the solution as a data hub, which is available in addition to the classic EDIFACT communication. Processes can be easily adapted via a business process engine and made transparent via monitoring within the AEP framework.

As one of the first users, Leipziger Stadtwerke has already implemented the functional and technical core processes of the AEP MaKo Cloud. Initially the focus is placed on covering the two market roles of metering point operator and supplier. These will also be supplemented by functionalities of myBusiness Supplier, the AEP invoicing solution.

There are future plans to expand the cooperation between Leipziger Stadtwerke and Arvato Systems to include the processes of the market role of network operator. Uwe Fischer, Head of Information Management at Leipziger Stadtwerke, was delighted: “We are setting the course for the digitalization of our business and can expand it step-by-step on the basis of AEP with the product portfolio of Arvato Systems on the supplier side.”

About Leipziger Stadtwerke
Leipziger Stadtwerke is the market leader for electricity and heat in Leipzig, supplying people in Leipzig and the region with reliable and efficient energy. As a competent energy partner, they offer intelligent and future-proof solutions for the environmentally friendly and networked energy world of tomorrow. They are actively shaping the energy turnaround in Leipzig. Leipziger Stadtwerke is a company of the Leipziger Group.
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