PART 5SROCs: Issue and Revocation

Revocation of SROCs

24.—(1) The Authority–

(a)shall, where in respect of any electricity generated by a generating station in a particular month it is satisfied that the declaration provided to it in relation to that generating station pursuant to article 18(4) is false or that a SROC was issued on the basis of any fraudulent behaviour, statement or undertaking on the part of the operator of that generating station or by any connected person, or, where SROCs are issued to an agent by virtue of article 17, that agent, revoke all SROCs issued in respect of that generating station in that month;

(b)shall revoke any SROC certifying matters within section 32B(2A) or (2AA) of the Act where the Northern Ireland Authority has notified the Authority that it is not satisfied that all of the electricity in question has been supplied to customers in Northern Ireland;

(c)shall, in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph (3), revoke any SROC where it is otherwise satisfied that the SROC is inaccurate;

(d)may, in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph (3), revoke any SROC where–

(i)the Authority is no longer satisfied that the SROC should have been issued;

(ii)the Authority has reasonable doubts as to the accuracy or reliability of the information upon which the Authority relied prior to the issue of the SROC; or

(iii)the Authority has been unable, due to a failure or refusal by any person (whether inside or outside Scotland) to provide the Authority with any information reasonably requested by it, to check the accuracy of either the SROC or any information which the Authority relied upon prior to the issue of the SROC; and

(e)subject to paragraph (2), shall, in reaching a decision as to the inaccuracy of a SROC for the purposes of sub-paragraph (c) and in exercising its powers to revoke a SROC pursuant to sub-paragraph (d), disregard any changes to the amounts for “gross output” and “input electricity” (as those two expressions are defined in article 10(7)) which were used by it (as provided in article 22(3)) to determine the amount of electricity to be regarded as having been generated from eligible renewable sources by a particular generating station in a particular month.

(2) Paragraph (1)(e) does not apply where, in accordance with article 22(6), the Authority has accepted later figures and made new determinations under article 22(2)(a) to (d).

(3) Where the Authority revokes SROCs in accordance with paragraph (1)(c) or (d), it shall–

(a)revoke the appropriate number of SROCs from those issued in a particular month in descending numerical order of SROC sequence number; and

(b)delete from the Register those SROCs previously allocated the highest SROC sequence numbers and remaining on the Register in advance of those with lower SROC sequence numbers,

and in determining the number of SROCs which it is appropriate to revoke it shall proceed on the basis that one SROC represents one megawatt hour of electricity (with any exact half megawatt hour being rounded upwards).

(4) Where the Authority has revoked a SROC–

(a)it shall as soon as practicable give notice in writing of such revocation to the registered holder of the SROC at the time of revocation;

(b)subject to subparagraph (c), the Authority may, in circumstances where it considers it appropriate to do so, issue a replacement SROC in accordance with the procedures laid down in paragraph (5) or, as the case may be, (6), provided that it is satisfied that each of the relevant criteria in article 18 is met (having regard as necessary to the requirements in article 19 and 20), and such SROC shall be treated as if issued under article 16 or, as the case may be, 17;

(5) Where the revoked SROC was revoked in accordance with paragraph (1)(a), paragraph (4)(b) shall not apply unless–

(i)the revoked SROC certified the matters within section 32B(2ZA), (2AA) or (2AC) of the Act; and

(ii)the reason for its revocation is unrelated to the generating station or stations in respect of which the replacement SROC is to be issued.

(6) Where pursuant to paragraph (4)(b) the Authority issues a replacement SROC certifying the matters within section 32B(2), (2A) or (2AB) of the Act it shall–

(a)allocate to the replacement SROC the lowest SROC sequence number of any SROC previously issued in respect of the same generating station or stations and same month that has been revoked which has not already been allocated to a replacement SROC (unless that replacement SROC has itself been revoked);

(b)issue each replacement SROC to the person to whom the SROC issued in respect of that generating station or those generating stations and that month and bearing the same SROC sequence number was previously issued; and

(c)proceed on the basis that one SROC represents one megawatt hour of electricity (with any exact half megawatt hour being rounded upwards).

(7) Where, pursuant to paragraph (4)(b), the Authority issues a replacement SROC certifying the matters within section 32B(2ZA), (2AA) or (2AC) of the Act it shall do so in accordance with article 22.