The Electricity and Gas (Billing) Regulations 2008

Statutory Instruments

2008 No. 1163

Electricity

Gas

The Electricity and Gas (Billing) Regulations 2008

Made

23rd April 2008

Laid before Parliament

24th April 2008

Coming into force

17th May 2008

The Secretary of State is designated for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(1) in relation to measures relating to the regulation of the electricity sector(2) and measures relating to natural gas and oil(3). He makes the following Regulations under powers conferred by that section:

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Electricity and Gas (Billing) Regulations 2008 and shall come into force on 17th May 2008.

(2) These Regulations do not extend to Northern Ireland.

Modification of electricity supply licences

2.—(1) The standard conditions of electricity supply licences are modified by the insertion of the standard condition appearing in Schedule 1.

(2) The conditions which by virtue of section 33 of the Utilities Act 2000(4) are the standard conditions for the purposes of electricity supply licences granted after these Regulations come into force are modified by the insertion of the standard condition appearing in Schedule 1.

(3) In this regulation, “electricity supply licence” means a licence granted under section 6(1)(d) of the Electricity Act 1989(5).

Modification of gas supply licences

3.—(1) The standard conditions of gas supply licences are modified by the insertion of the standard condition appearing in Schedule 2.

(2) The conditions which by virtue of section 33 of the Utilities Act 2000 are the standard conditions for the purposes of gas supply licences granted after these Regulations come into force are modified by the insertion of the standard condition appearing in Schedule 2.

(3) In this regulation, “gas supply licence” means a licence granted under section 7A(1) of the Gas Act 1986(6).

Malcolm Wicks

Minister of State for Energy,

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

23rd April 2008

Regulation 2

SCHEDULE 1 Condition 31A. Information about electricity consumption patterns

31.A.1	This condition applies from 1 January 2009.
31.A.2	The licensee must provide the information contained in paragraph 3 on every Bill or statement of account sent to a Domestic Customer.
31.A.3	The information provided for in paragraph 2 is a comparison of the Domestic Customer’s electricity consumption for the period covered by the Bill or statement of account, with the Domestic Customer’s electricity consumption for the corresponding period in the previous year (for the purposes of this condition, the “corresponding period”).
31.A.4	The licensee must:
(a)		present that comparison in a form that is clear and easy to understand; and
(b)		make it clear on the Bill or the statement of account whether any estimates of the Domestic Customer’s electricity consumption have been used in producing the comparison.
31.A.5	The requirement in paragraph 2 only applies if the licensee has been contracted to supply electricity to the same Domestic Customer at the same Domestic Premises throughout the period:
(a)		commencing with the start of the corresponding period; and
(b)		ending with the end of the period to which the Bill or statement of account relates.

Regulation 3

SCHEDULE 2 Condition 31A. Information about gas consumption patterns

31.A.1	This condition applies from 1 January 2009.
31.A.2	The licensee must provide the information contained in paragraph 3 on every Bill or statement of account sent to a Domestic Customer.
31.A.3	The information provided for in paragraph 2 is a comparison of the Domestic Customer’s gas consumption for the period covered by the Bill or statement of account, with the Domestic Customer’s gas consumption for the corresponding period in the previous year (for the purposes of this condition, the “corresponding period”).
31.A.4	The licensee must:
(a)		present that comparison in a form that is clear and easy to understand; and
(b)		make it clear on the Bill or the statement of account whether any estimates of the Domestic Customer’s gas consumption have been used in producing the comparison.
31.A.5	The requirement in paragraph 2 only applies if the licensee has been contracted to supply gas to the same Domestic Customer at the same Domestic Premises throughout the period:
(a)		commencing with the start of the corresponding period; and
(b)		ending with the end of the period to which the Bill or statement of account relates.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations modify the standard conditions in electricity and gas supply licences in Great Britain. The purpose of the modifications is to require electricity and gas suppliers to provide information to domestic customers comparing their gas or electricity use in one period with the same period in the previous year. These modified conditions will apply from 1st January 2009.

The modifications give effect to Article 13(3)(b) of Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy end-use efficiency and energy services and repealing Council Directive 93/76/EEC(7).

A copy of the full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Energy Markets Unit, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET. The full impact assessment is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on the OPSI website.

The licences modified by these Regulations may be inspected on the public register of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets at http://epr.ofgem.gov.uk/.

(1)

1972 c.68.

(2)

S.I. 1998/745.

(3)

S.I. 2000/738.

(4)

2000 c.27, section 33 was amended by paragraph 20 of Schedule 19 to the Energy Act 2004 (c.20) and section 7(7)(a) and (b) of the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006 (c.19).

(5)

1989 c.29, section 6 was substituted for the original by section 30 of the Utilities Act 2000 (c.27).

(6)

1986 c.44, section 7A was inserted by section 6(1) of the Gas Act 1995 (c.45) and subsequently amended by section 3(2) and paragraphs 1 and 2(1) of Schedule 6 to the Utilities Act 2000 (c.27), and by section 149(1) and (7) of the Energy Act 2004 (c.20).

(7)

OJ No. L114, 27.4.2006, p.64.