The Electricity and Gas (Billing) Regulations 2014

Statutory Instruments

2014 No. 1648

Electricity

Gas

The Electricity and Gas (Billing) Regulations 2014

Made

24th June 2014

Laid before Parliament

26th June 2014

Coming into force

17th July 2014

The Secretary of State is a Minister designated(1) for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(2) in relation to energy and energy sources. He makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by that section.

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Electricity and Gas (Billing) Regulations 2014 and come into force on 17th July 2014.

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

Amendments to the standard conditions of electricity supply licences

2.—(1) The standard conditions incorporated by virtue of section 8A(1) of the Electricity Act 1989(3) in licences granted under section 6(1)(d) of that Act are amended as follows.

(2) In condition 1 (definitions for standard conditions) in the definition of “Online Account Management” omit “Domestic”.

(3) In condition 21B (billing based on meter reading) after paragraph 21B.2 insert the paragraphs which appear in Schedule 1.

Amendments to the standard conditions of gas supply licences

3.—(1) The standard conditions incorporated by virtue of section 8(1) of the Gas Act 1986(4) in licences granted under section 7A(1) of that Act are amended as follows.

(2) In condition 1 (definitions for standard conditions) in the definition of “Online Account Management” omit “Domestic”.

(3) In condition 21B (billing based on meter readings) after paragraph 21B.2 insert the paragraphs which appear in Schedule 2.

Gregory Barker

Minister of State

Department of Energy and Climate Change

24th June 2014

Regulation 2(3)

SCHEDULE 1

21B.3	Paragraphs 21B.4 and 21B.5 apply from 31 December 2014.
21B.4	The licensee must take all reasonable steps to obtain a meter reading (including any meter reading transmitted electronically from a meter to the licensee or provided by the Customer and accepted by the licensee) for each of its Customers at least once every year.
	This paragraph does not apply in relation to any Customer with a Prepayment Meter.
21B.5	The licensee must make available a Bill or statement of account to each of its Customers at least twice yearly and at least quarterly to any Customer who requests it or who has Online Account Management.
	This paragraph does not apply in relation to any Customer with:
	(a)	a Prepayment Meter;
	(b)	a Smart Metering System;
	(c)	unmetered supply as defined in regulation 2 of the Electricity (Unmetered Supply) Regulations 2001(5).
21B.6	Where a Customer requests Online Account Management the licensee must comply with that request.
21B.7	Where a Customer requests an explanation of how their Bill or statement of account was derived the licensee must comply with that request in plain and intelligible language.
21B.8	The licensee must not make a specific charge for the provision of a Bill or statement of account or for access in an appropriate way to the consumption data used to calculate that Bill or statement of account.
	This paragraph does not apply in respect of providing additional copies of a Bill or statement of account to a Customer.
21B.9	Where a Customer requests the licensee to make available information on their energy billing and historical consumption either to the Customer or to any other person designated by the Customer the licensee must comply with that request to the extent that the information requested is available and as soon as reasonably practicable.

Regulation 3(3)

SCHEDULE 2

21B.3	Paragraphs 21B.4 and 21B.5 apply from 31 December 2014.
21B.4	The licensee must take all reasonable steps to obtain a meter reading (including any meter reading transmitted electronically from a meter to the licensee or provided by the Customer and accepted by the licensee) for each of its Customers at least once every year.
	This paragraph does not apply in relation to any Customer with a Prepayment Meter.
21B.5	The licensee must make available a Bill or statement of account to each of its Customers at least twice yearly and at least quarterly to any Customer who requests it or who has Online Account Management.
	This paragraph does not apply in relation to any Customer with:
	(a)	a Prepayment Meter;
	(b)	a Smart Metering System.
21B.6	Where a Customer requests Online Account Management the licensee must comply with that request.
21B.7	Where a Customer requests an explanation of how their Bill or statement of account was derived the licensee must comply with that request in plain and intelligible language.
21B.8	The licensee must not make a specific charge for the provision of a Bill or statement of account or for access in an appropriate way to the consumption data used to calculate that Bill or statement of account.
	This paragraph does not apply in respect of providing additional copies of a Bill or statement of account to a Customer.
21B.9	Where a Customer requests the licensee to make available information on their energy billing and historical consumption either to the Customer or to any other person designated by the Customer the licensee must comply with that request to the extent that the information requested is available and as soon as reasonably practicable.

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 ensure that billing of gas and electricity is based on actual consumption at least once a year, that consumers have regular access to bills and billing information free of charge and that on request suppliers provide electronic billing and an easily understandable explanation of how a bill was derived.

The modifications give effect to provisions on billing and billing information for gas and electricity consumption in Articles 10 and 11 of and Annex VII to Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC (OJ No L 315, 14.11.2012, p1).

Regulation 2 and Schedule 1 modify the standard conditions of electricity supply licences granted under the Electricity Act 1989.

Regulation 3 and Schedule 2 modify the standard conditions of gas supply licences granted under the Gas Act 1986.

A copy of the full impact assessment of the effect that these Regulations will have on the cost of business and the voluntary sector is available from Retail Energy Markets Team, Department of Energy and Climate Change, 3 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2AW. The full impact assessment and a transposition note is also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside these Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk.

The licences modified by these Regulations may be inspected on the public register of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) at https://epr.ofgem.gov.uk/Document or by contacting Ofgem at 9 Millbank, London, SW1P 3GE.

(1)

S.I. 2010/761.

(2)

1972 c.68; section 2(2) was amended by section 27(1)(a) of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006 (c.51) and by section 3(3) of and Part 1 of the Schedule to the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 (c.7).

(3)

1989 c.29; section 8A was inserted by section 33(3) of the Utilities Act 2004, section 6(1) was substituted by section 30 of the Utilities Act 2000 (c.27) and amended by section 136(1) of the Energy Act 2004 (c.20) and S.I. 2012/2400. A consolidated version of the standard conditions of electricity supply licence is available at: https://epr.ofgem.gov.uk//Content/Documents/Electricity%20Supply%20Standard%20Licence%20Conditions%20Consolidated%20-%20Current%20Version.pdf .

(4)

1986 c.44; section 8(1) was substituted by section 8(1) of the Gas Act 1995 (c.45) and amended by section 81 of the Utilities Act 2000 (c.27) and by section 150 of the Energy Act 2004 (c.20), section 7A(1) was inserted by section 6(1) of the Gas Act 1995 (c.45) and amended by section 3(2) of the Utilities Act 2000 (c.27). A consolidated version of the standard conditions of gas supply licence is available at: https://epr.ofgem.gov.uk//Content/Documents/Gas%20supply%20standard%20licence%20conditions%20consolidated%20-%20Current%20Version.pdf.

(5)

S.I. 2001/3263.