Energy Act 1983



Energy Act 1983

1983 CHAPTER 25

An Act to amend the law relating to electricity so as to facilitate the generation and supply of electricity by persons other than Electricity Boards, and for certain other purposes; and to amend the law relating to the duties of persons responsible for nuclear installations and to compensation for breach of those duties.

[9th May 1983]

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

I Electricity

Part I

Electricity

Private generation and supply

Private generation and supply

S-1 Removal of restrictions on supply etc.

1 Removal of restrictions on supply etc.

1. Section 23 of the Electric Lighting Act 1909(which prohibits persons other than Electricity Boards from commencing to supply or distribute electricity) and section 11 of the Electricity (Supply) Act 1919(which restricts the establishment and extension of generating stations) shall cease to have effect.

S-2 Notice of construction or extension of generating stations.

2 Notice of construction or extension of generating stations.

(1) Subject to subsection (5) below, any person other than an Electricity Board or a local authority who proposes—

(a ) to construct or extend an electricity generating station having plant with a rating exceeding 10 megawatts, or

(b ) to extend an existing electricity generating station in such a way that it will have plant with such a rating,

shall give written notice of his proposal to the Area Board for the area in which the station is or will be or, if it is or will be within the district of a Scottish Board, to that Board.

(2) The Secretary of State may make regulations as to the time when a notice under this section is to be given and the particulars which it is to contain.

(3) A person who is required to give a notice under this section shall be guilty of an offence if the work of construction or extension begins without the required notice having been given.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a ) on conviction on indictment, to a fine, or

(b ) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.

(5) This section shall not apply in a case in which section 35 of the Electricity (Scotland) Act 1979 applies.

(6) References in this section to extending a generating station are references to increasing the rating of its plant.

S-3 Nuclear-powered generating stations.

3 Nuclear-powered generating stations.

(1) Subject to subsection (5) below, no person shall construct, extend or become the operator of a nuclear-powered generating station without the consent of the Secretary of State.

(2) A consent given for the purposes of this section may be subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State thinks fit.

(3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) above, or any condition of a consent given for the purposes of this section, shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable—

(a ) on conviction on indictment, to a fine, or

(b ) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.

(5) This section shall not apply to the construction, extension or operation of a generating station by an Electricity Board.

(6) In this section ‘nuclear-powered generating station’ means an electricity generating station the operation of which requires a licence under section 1 of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 ; and references to extending a generating station are references to increasing the rating of its plant.

S-4 Hydro-electric generating stations in Scotland.

4 Hydro-electric generating stations in Scotland.

(1) In section 35(1) of the Electricity (Scotland) Act 1979 (which relates to the control of private hydro-electric generating stations)—

(a ) for the word ‘establish’ there shall be substituted the words ‘construct or extend’;

(b ) the word ‘new’ shall cease to have effect;

(c ) the word ‘private’, in both places where it occurs, shall cease to have effect; and

(d ) for the words ‘50 kilowatts’, in both places where they occur, there shall be substituted the words ‘1 megawatt’.

(2) Section 35(2) of that Act shall cease to have effect.

S-5 Private generators and Electricity Boards.

5 Private generators and Electricity Boards.

(1) In this section ‘private generator or supplier’ means a person other than an Electricity Board or local authority who—

(a ) generates electricity, or

(b ) supplies electricity generated otherwise than by an Electricity Board or local authority.

(2) Where a private generator or supplier requests an Electricity Board—

(a ) to give and continue to give a supply of electricity to premises where he generates electricity or from which he supplies electricity to others, or

(b ) to purchase electricity generated by him, or

(c ) to permit him to use the Board's transmission and distribution system for the purpose of giving a supply of electricity to any premises,

the Board shall offer to comply with the request unless on technical grounds it would not be reasonably practicable to do so.

(3) Subject to sections 6 to 8 below, an offer under this section may include such reasonable terms and may be made subject to such reasonable conditions as the Board may determine, including—

(a ) terms requiring security to be given for the payment of any sums that may become payable to the Board, and

(b ) the condition that any necessary planning or other consents are obtained (including, in the case of an offer by the Central Electricity Generating Board, the consent of the Secretary of State under section 2(6) of the Electricity Act 1957 ).

(4) Every offer under this section shall include such reasonable terms and conditions as the Board may consider necessary to secure that the control by Electricity Boards of the operation of the electricity supply system is not impaired.

(5) If, before a request under this section can be complied with, it is necessary for any electric lines or other electrical plant to be provided, or for any other works to be carried out, the terms of an offer under this section—

(a ) shall include an undertaking by the Board to provide the lines or other plant or carry out the works, and

(b ) may require the person making the request to make payments to the Board in respect of any expenditure incurred by the Board in carrying out the undertaking.

(6) A request under this section shall contain such particulars, and shall be in such form, as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State; and such regulations may make provision for the payment to the Board by the person making the request of fees to meet the Board's administrative expenses in dealing with the request.

S-6 Charges for supplies by Electricity Boards.

6 Charges for supplies by Electricity Boards.

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, the price to be paid for electricity supplied by an Electricity Board in compliance with requests under section 5 above shall be in accordance with tariffs fixed under section 37 of the Electricity Act 1947 or section 22 of the Electricity (Scotland) Act 1979 .

(2) Where, owing to special circumstances, the tariffs fixed under section 37 of the Electricity Act 1947 or section 22 of the Electricity (Scotland) Act 1979 are not appropriate to a supply requested under section 5 above, the terms of the Board's offer under section 5 shall specify the price proposed by the Board and any arrangements proposed for its revision.

S-7 Charges for purchases by Electricity Boards.

7 Charges for purchases by Electricity Boards.

(1) Each Electricity Board other than the Central Electricity Generating Board shall as soon as practicable after the commencement of this section fix tariffs of prices that will be paid by the Board for electricity purchased by it in compliance with requests under section 5 above.

(2) In the case of any purchase in respect of which—

(a ) there is no tariff in force under this section which is applicable, or

(b ) the tariff applicable is not appropriate owing to special circumstances,

the terms of the offer made by the Board under section 5 above shall specify the price proposed by the Board and any arrangements proposed for its revision.

(3) The principles on which tariffs are fixed and prices proposed by an Electricity Board in accordance with this section shall include the principle that a purchase by the Board in compliance with a request under section 5 above should be on terms which—

(a ) will not increase the prices payable by customers of the Board for electricity supplied to them by the Board, and

(b ) will reflect the costs that would have been incurred by the Board but for the purchase.

(4) The terms of an offer to purchase electricity in compliance with a request under section 5 above may include a requirement that the vendor shall make to the Board from time to time such reasonable payments as the Board may determine in respect of the costs of maintenance, operation and depreciation of the assets employed, and of the...

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