1997 No. 989
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (as respects England and Wales) and the Secretary of State for Scotland (as respects Scotland), in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 5 and 111(2) of the Electricity Act 1989and after consultation with the Director General of Electricity Supply, hereby make the following Order:—
S-1
Citation and commencementCitation and commencement
1. This Order may be cited as the Electricity (Class Exemptions from the Requirement for a Licence) Order 1997 and shall come into force on 31st March 1998.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In this Order—
“the Act” means the Electricity Act 1989;
“additional group consumers within the 100 megawatt limit” has the meaning set out in paragraph C.2 in Schedule 3;
“consumer” means a person to whom electricity is supplied (whether or not he is the same person as the person who supplies the electricity);
“declared net capacity” in relation to a generating station has the meaning given to that expression in Schedule 1;
“domestic consumer”, in relation to any supply of electricity, means a consumer who uses not more than 20,000 kilowatt hours per annum;
“licensed generator” means the holder of a licence under section 6(1)(a) of the Act;
“licensed supplier” means the holder of a licence under section 6(1)(c) or section 6(2) of the Act;
“offshore installation” has the same meaning as in regulation 3 of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995;
“ordinary share capital” has the same meaning as in section 832(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988;
“parent undertaking” shall be construed in accordance with section 258 of the Companies Act 1985;
“pooling and settlement agreement” means the pooling and settlement agreement to which a person generating or supplying electricity may be required to become party by the licence granted to him under section 6 of the Act; and
“qualifying group” means a group of two or more consumers which are all bodies corporate, and which either—
(a) are each connected to each other, provided that no body corporate which is not connected to, or a parent undertaking in relation to, all of them is a parent undertaking in relation to any of them; or
(b) are each related to each other, were related to each other on 31st March 1990 and were supplied with electricity on 31st March 1990 by the person seeking to fall within the class in question specified in Schedule 2 or 3.
(2) The following provisions shall have effect for the purposes of this Order.
(a)
(a) One body corporate shall be treated as associated with another if—
(i) one of them is a subsidiary of the other; or
(ii) both of them are subsidiaries of the same holding company;
and “holding company” and “subsidiary” shall have the same meaning as in section 736 of the Companies Act 1985.
(b)
(b) One body corporate shall be treated as related to another if—
(i) one of them is a 75 per cent subsidiary of the other; or
(ii) both of them are 75 per cent subsidiaries of a third body corporate;
and “75 per cent subsidiary” shall be construed in accordance with section 838 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.
(c)
(c) One body corporate shall be treated as connected to another if—
(i) 50 per cent or more of the ordinary share capital of one of them is owned directly or indirectly by the other; or
(ii) 50 per cent or more of the ordinary share capital of each of them is owned directly or indirectly by a third body corporate;
and for the purpose of determining whether 50 per cent or more of the ordinary share capital of a body corporate is owned directly or indirectly by another body corporate the provisions of subsections (2) to (10) of section 838 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 shall apply in relation to this sub-paragraph as they apply in relation to subsection (1) of that section.
(d)
(d) A person shall be treated as generating electricity at any time if he is the operator of plant or equipment which at that time—
(i) is generating or capable of generating electricity; or
(ii) is not capable of generating electricity only by reason of the repair or testing of the plant or equipment.
(e)
(e) Premises shall be treated as on the same site as each other if they are—
(ii) immediately adjoining each other; or
(iii) separated from each other only by a road, railway or watercourse or by other premises occupied by the consumer in question, by any other person who together with that consumer forms a qualifying group, or by the person seeking to fall within the class in question specified in Schedule 2 or 3.
Exemptions from section 4 of the Act
3.—(1) Exemption is granted—
(a)
(a) from section 4(1)(a) of the Act to persons of the classes specified in Schedule 2; and
(b)
(b) from section 4(1)(c) of the Act to persons of the classes specified in Schedule 3.
(2) A person shall be treated as falling within any class specified in Schedule 2 or Schedule 3 notwithstanding that he generates electricity or, as the case may be, supplies electricity to premises in circumstances other than those specified in the description of that class if the generation or, as the case may be, the supply of electricity in those circumstances would, if taken on its own, be such that that person would fall within another class in Schedule 2 or, as the case may be, Schedule 3.
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Conditions on exemptionsConditions on exemptions
4.—(1) The exemption granted by article 3(1)(b) to persons of Class C in Schedule 3 is subject to compliance with the condition specified in paragraph (2) below.
(2) Any person who supplies electricity to domestic consumers who are additional group consumers within the 100 megawatt limit shall do so at a price which does not exceed the maximum price specified in Schedule 4 to this Order.
SCHEDULE 1
Article 2(1)
MEANING OF “DECLARED NET CAPACITY”
1. The declared net capacity of a generating station which is driven by any means other than water, wind or solar power is the highest generation of electricity (at the main alternator terminals) which can be maintained indefinitely without causing damage to the plant less so much of that capacity as is consumed by the plant.
2. The declared net capacity of a generating station which is driven by water, wind or solar power shall be ascertained by the application of the formula
where—
A is the highest generation of electricity (at the main alternator terminals or, in the case of direct current generation, at the output terminals of the direct current to alternating current converter) which, on the assumption that the source of power is available uninterruptedly, can be maintained indefinitely without causing damage to the plant less so much of that electricity as is consumed by the plant; and
B has the value set out in the table as applicable to the particular description of station.
TABLE
(1) |
(2) |
Description of station |
Value of B |
1. Station driven by tidal or wave power |
0.33 |
2. Station driven by any form of water power other than tidal or wave power |
1 |
3. Station driven by wind power |
0.43 |
4. Station driven by solar power |
0.17 |
SCHEDULE 2
Article 3(1)(a)
EXEMPTIONS FROM SECTION 4(1)(a) OF THE ACT
Class A: Small generators
Persons (other than licensed generators) who do not at any time provide more electrical power from any one generating station than—
2. 50 megawatts in the case of a generating station with a declared net capacity of less than 100 megawatts,
disregarding—
a(a) power supplied to—
(i) a single consumer who occupies premises which are on the same site as the premises where the generating station is situated and who consumes all the power provided to him from that generating station at those premises or supplies all or some of such power in circumstances specified in the description of Class B in Schedule 3 and consumes at those premises any of such power not so supplied by him; or
(ii) two or more consumers who form a qualifying group each of whom occupies premises which are on the same site as the premises where the generating station is situated and consumes all the power provided to him from that generating station at those premises or supplies all or some of such power in circumstances specified in the description of Class B in Schedule 3 and consumes at those premises any of such power not so supplied by him; and
b(b) for the purposes of paragraph (2) above power temporarily provided in excess of 50 megawatts due to technical circumstances outside the reasonable control of the person providing that power.
Class B: Offshore generators
Persons (other than licensed generators) who—
1. do not generate electricity except at a generating station which is situated on an offshore installation; and
2. do not supply such electricity except to premises which constitute or are comprised in an offshore installation.
SCHEDULE 3
Article 3(1)(b)
EXEMPTIONS FROM SECTION 4(1)(c) OF THE ACT
Class A: Small supply
Persons (other than licensed suppliers) who do not supply any electricity except—
1. electricity which they generate themselves; or
2. electricity which they generate themselves together with electricity which is supplied to them by a licensed supplier;
and who do not at any time supply more electrical power than 500 kilowatts.
