1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Warm Home Discount Regulations 2011.
(2) These Regulations come into force on the day after the day on which they are made.
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“broader group customer” is to be interpreted in accordance with regulation 18(1);
“commencement date” means the date on which these Regulations come into force;
“compulsory scheme electricity supplier” has the meaning given in regulation 5(1);
“core group customer” has the meaning given in regulation 7(2);
“couple” means—
a man and a woman who are married to each other and are members of the same household;
a man and a woman who are not married to each other but are living together as husband and wife;
two people of the same sex who are civil partners of each other and are members of the same household; or
two people of the same sex who are not civil partners of each other but are living together as if they were civil partners,
and for the purposes of sub-paragraph (d), two people of the same sex are to be regarded as living together as if they were civil partners if, but only if, they would be regarded as living together as husband and wife were they instead two people of the opposite sex;
“domestic customer” means an owner or occupier of domestic premises in Great Britain who is supplied with electricity or gas at those premises wholly or mainly for domestic purposes;
“dual fuel” means electricity and gas, where both are supplied to a domestic customer at the same domestic premises, by a person who is both a licensed electricity supplier and a licensed gas supplier;
“group of companies” means a holding company and the wholly-owned subsidiaries of that holding company; and “holding company” and “wholly-owned subsidiary” have the same meanings as in section 1159 of the Companies Act 2006(1);
“industry initiative” has the meaning given in regulation 26(1);
“legacy spending”, and references to the amount of legacy spending incurred by a relevant supplier, are to be interpreted in accordance with regulation 21(2);
“non-core spending obligation” is to be interpreted in accordance with regulation 13;
“partner” means a member of a couple;
“the prescribed rebate” means a rebate of—
in scheme year 1, £120;
in scheme year 2, £130;
in scheme year 3, £135; and
in scheme year 4, £140;
“relevant supplier” means a compulsory scheme electricity supplier, or a scheme gas supplier which is connected to a compulsory scheme electricity supplier, which—
made a voluntary commitment; and
under that commitment, provided financial benefits to domestic customers in the period from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011;
“scheme electricity supplier” means a compulsory scheme electricity supplier or a voluntary scheme electricity supplier;
“scheme gas supplier” has the meaning given in regulation 5(5);
“scheme supplier” means a scheme electricity supplier or a scheme gas supplier;
“scheme year” means a period—
from the commencement date to 31st March 2012; or
of 12 months commencing on 1st April in any of the years 2012 to 2014,
and “scheme year” followed by a number from 1 to 4 means the scheme year commencing in 2011, 2012, 2013 or 2014 as the case may be;
“state pension credit” has the meaning given by section 1 of the State Pension Credit Act 2002(2);
“voluntary commitment” means a commitment made by a licensed electricity supplier or a licensed gas supplier to the Secretary of State, in respect of the period from 1st April 2008 to 31st March 2011, to provide financial benefits to customers and carry out other initiatives, for the purpose of assisting persons in fuel poverty or in fuel poverty risk groups; and
“voluntary scheme electricity supplier” has the meaning given in regulation 5(4).
(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, an electricity supplier or gas supplier (A) is connected to an electricity supplier or gas supplier (B) if A and B are companies belonging to the same group of companies.