The Energy Bills Discount Scheme (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2023

Interpretation of this Chapter

15.—(1) In this Chapter—

“certified heat supplier” means a qualifying heat supplier in respect of whom a QHS certificate has been issued and not revoked;

“certification date” has the meaning given—

(a)

in relation to an ETII certificate, in regulation 16(6);

(b)

in relation to a QHS certificate, in regulation 17(6);

“Chapter 3 rules” means rules made by the Secretary of State under regulation 27;

“deemed supply contract” has the meaning given in regulation 23(2);

“domestic heat consumer” means a heat consumer whose consumption of heating or hot water is wholly or mainly for a domestic purpose;

“ETII activity” means an economic activity that falls within the category identified by a SIC code specified in Chapter 3 rules;

“ETII certification criteria” has the meaning given in regulation 16(1);

“ETII customer” means a customer for which the conditions in regulation 18(1) are satisfied;

“ETII energy” has the meaning given in regulation 18(1)(a);

“ETII qualifying activity” means an ETII activity in respect of which the condition in regulation 16(3) is satisfied;

“excepted ETII body” means—

(a)

a relevant local authority;

(b)

a body of a description specified in Chapter 3 rules;

“heat consumer” means a person who purchases, for their own end consumption, heating or hot water supplied through a heat network;

“higher-tier provider” means, in relation to a provider, another provider who directly supplies or makes available to the first provider energy, heating, hot water or electricity;

“immediate ETII provider” means, in relation to a certified ETII operator, a provider who directly supplies or makes available energy, heating, hot water or electricity to the certified ETII operator;

“lower-tier provider” means, in relation to a provider, another provider to whom the first provider directly supplies or makes available energy, heating, hot water or electricity;

“QHS customer” means a customer for which the conditions in regulation 19(1) are satisfied;

“QHS energy” has the meaning given in regulation 19(1)(a);

“qualifying heat consumer” means a heat consumer (whether or not a domestic heat consumer) supplied with heating or hot water through a qualifying heat network;

“qualifying heat network” means a heat network through which a qualifying heat supplier makes a qualifying heat supply for which the condition in regulation 17(3) is satisfied;

“qualifying heat supplier” means a person who makes and charges for a qualifying heat supply;

“qualifying heat supply” means the supply of heating or hot water through a heat network to heat consumers, where any of those heat consumers is a domestic heat consumer;

“relevant beneficiary” means, in relation to a provider (P1), each certified ETII operator or domestic heat customer to whom (as the case may be) energy is supplied or heating, hot water or electricity is made available—

(a)

by P1, or

(b)

by another provider (P2) using energy supplied or heating, hot water or electricity made available by P1 (whether directly to P2 or otherwise);

“relevant local authority” means a district council constituted under section 1 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972(1);

“relevant supply contract” means a supply contract under which the customer is an ETII customer or a QHS customer;

“scheme benefit” means the benefit of energy price support under the scheme;

“SIC code” means a code, at the level ‘class’ defined by 4 digits, included in the UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007(2);

“third party energy”, in relation to an ETII applicant or QHS applicant, means—

(a)

gas that the applicant has not produced, or

(b)

electricity that the applicant—

(i)

has not produced, or

(ii)

has produced using gas that the applicant has not produced.

(2) In this Chapter, a provider (P) is a “main scheme provider” if, and to the extent that—

(a) P is a supplier, or

(b) the ETII energy or QHS energy that P—

(i) supplies or otherwise makes available (directly or indirectly) to others, or

(ii) uses to supply or otherwise make available (directly or indirectly) heating, hot water or electricity to others,

has been provided to any person by a supplier.

(3) In this Chapter, a reference—

(a) to scheme benefit being required to be passed on is to a provider being required to pass on that benefit, as an intermediary (within the meaning of section 19(1) of the Act), under any pass-through regulations;

(b) to a provider being notified by a higher-tier provider of scheme benefit is to the provider being so notified, by a higher-tier provider as such an intermediary, under pass-through regulations.

(1)

1972, c. 9. The Act was amended by the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 (c. 7), sections 3(1), 5(3); S.R. 2013 No. 238, articles 2, 3(1), 4(1), 5(1) (with articles 3(2), 4(2), 5(2)-(4) (as amended (31.3.2015) by S.R. 2015 No. 210, article 2)).

(2)

(SIC 2007) published by the Office for National Statistics in December 2009 with ISBN number 978-0-230-21012-7.