(This note is not part of the Order)
These Regulations revoke and re-enact the provisions of the Electricity (Standards of Performance) Regulations 2010 with modifications introducing a number of changes in the standards of performance arrangements. These changes were consulted on by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets as part of the electricity distribution price control review completed in November 2014.
The Regulations prescribe the sums that electricity suppliers and distributors must pay to a customer by way of compensation for failure to meet specified standards of performance in respect of the services to be provided by such suppliers or distributors, subject to certain exemptions. The sum payable may differ between domestic and non-domestic customers, between standards and between suppliers and distributors.
The standards of performance applying to electricity distributors provide prescribed timeframes for supply restoration to premises in normal and severe weather conditions, supply restoration in the case of multiple interruptions and in cases where supply is interrupted due to operation of the distributor’s fuse. The standards also require estimates for connection and prior notice of planned supply interruptions to be provided within a prescribed timeframe and cover complaints relating to voltage levels.
There are specific standards for electricity suppliers relating to a notification for a change in method of payment or query as to an account by a customer, and in respect of notifications to a supplier that a meter may be operating outside the margins of error or where a pre-payment meter is not operating so as to permit a supply to be given.
There are common standards for both electricity distributors and suppliers in respect of making and keeping appointments, making payments to customers required under these Regulations, and preparing and making available a statement describing customer’s rights under these Regulations.
The main changes in the new Regulations are:
reducing the normal weather standard contravention period from 18 hours to 12 hours;
aligning the regulatory treatment of “one-off” exception events by removing certain exemptions in recognition of how such events are treated under the interruptions;
automating payments to Priority Services Register Customers who have experienced a qualifying interruption in respect of regulations 5, 6, 7, and 8,where no exemptions under those regulations apply;
updating the compensation levels attached to the standards to take account of inflation; and
updating the thresholds for normal and severe weather conditions.
The Electricity (Standards of Performance) Regulations 2010 are revoked (regulation 2 and Schedule 1) subject to the transitional provision in regulation 1 of these Regulations.