Office of Public Sector Information
25.—(1) The aggregate of the amounts received by the Authority under Article 10 in respect of an obligation period (“the relevant obligation period”)(together with any interest thereon received by the Authority) is referred to as “the buy-out fund”.
(2) The Authority shall pay out the buy-out fund, by the 1st November immediately following the relevant obligation period in accordance with the system of allocation specified in paragraphs (3) to (6).
(3) The buy-out fund relating to a relevant obligation period shall be divided amongst the United Kingdom suppliers who meet one or more of the applicable conditions referred to in paragraphs (4) and (5) so that each such United Kingdom supplier receives a proportion of the buy-out fund calculated in accordance with paragraph (6).
(4) The applicable condition for a designated electricity supplier is that, in respect of the relevant obligation period, he has complied (in whole or in part) with his renewables obligation by producing qualifying certificates to the Authority.
(5) The applicable condition for a Great Britain designated supplier is that, in respect of a period contemporaneous with the relevant obligation period, it has complied (in whole or in part) with any renewables obligation imposed on it in accordance with section 32(1) of the Electricity Act by producing qualifying certificates to the Great Britain Authority.
(6) The proportion of the buy-out fund which each United Kingdom supplier is entitled to receive under paragraph (3) is equal to the proportion which the amount of electricity covered by all the qualifying certificates it has produced as mentioned in paragraphs (4) or (5) bears to the total amount of the electricity covered by all of the qualifying certificates produced to the Authority or to the Great Britain Authority in respect of the relevant obligation period, or any period contemporaneous with the relevant obligation period, in discharge of any renewables obligation imposed in accordance with section 32(1) of the Electricity Act or this Order.
26.—(1) As soon as reasonably practicable after the specified day in relation to an obligation period (“the obligation period in question”), the Authority shall notify any designated electricity supplier that has not discharged his renewables obligation in full by the specified day (“defaulting supplier”) that he has not fully discharged his renewables obligation, and to what extent.
(2) If a defaulting supplier makes a late payment to the Authority before the end of the late payment period relating to the obligation period in question he shall be treated as having discharged his renewables obligation in full for that obligation period.
(3) If a defaulting supplier pays part of a late payment to the Authority before the end of the late payment period relating to the obligation period in question he shall be treated as having discharged the same proportion of the amount of his renewables obligation which was not discharged by the specified day as the proportion which the partial payment bears to the total late payment required in order for the supplier to be treated under paragraph (2) as having discharged his renewables obligation in full for the obligation period in question.
(4) The Authority shall pay out the late payment fund by the 1st January immediately following the late payment period, in accordance with the system of allocation specified in Article 25(3) to 25(6), as if—
(a) the references in paragraph (3) and (6) of that Article to “the buy-out fund” were references to that late payment fund; and
(b) the references in paragraphs (3) to (6) of that Article to a “relevant obligation period” were references to the obligation period in question.
(5) the Authority shall not, during the late payment period, impose a penalty under Article 45 of the Energy Order on any defaulting supplier in respect of that supplier’s failure to discharge his renewables obligation in full before the specified day.
(6) In this Article—
(a) “late payment” means the total of—
(i) the amount, or additional amount that the defaulting supplier would have paid under Article 10 to discharge his renewables obligation in full immediately before the specified day, taking into account any payments already made by the defaulting supplier under that Article and any qualifying certificates produced by the supplier to the Authority; and
(ii) interest on the amount specified in sub-paragraph (i) charged at the specified rate and calculated on a daily basis, from the specified day to the date on which payment is received by the Authority;
(b) “the late payment fund” means the aggregate of the amounts received by the Authority under paragraphs (2) and (3) in respect of the obligation period in question (together with any interest received thereon by the Authority); and
(c) “specified rate” means 5 percentage points above the base rate of the Bank of England as at the first day of the late payment period in relation to any obligation period.
27.—(1) The Authority may require a designated electricity supplier to provide it with such information in such form and within such time as it may reasonably require which is, in the Authority’s opinion, relevant to the question whether the supplier is discharging, or has discharged, his renewables obligation in relation to any obligation period.
(2) The Authority may request any person who generates, supplies or transmits electricity in relation to which a NIROC has been or may be issued, or any person who buys or sells such electricity or NIROCs (otherwise than as a consumer) to provide the Authority with such information in such form and within such time as it may reasonably request in order to carry out any of its functions under this Order.
(3) Where a designated electricity supplier receives a payment other than under Article 25 or 26 in relation to a failure by a Great Britain designated supplier to discharge its renewables obligation imposed in accordance with section 32(1) of the Electricity Act, the designated electricity supplier receiving the payment shall notify the Authority, immediately after receiving the payment, of the amount he received and the reason for the payment.
(4) In paragraph (2) the reference to any person who generates electricity in relation to which a NIROC has been or may be issued shall be taken to include a reference to any agent to whom any such NIROC has been or may be issued by virtue of Article 15.
28.—(1) The Authority shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after the specified day, notify the Great Britain Authority of the GBROC identifier of each GBROC produced to it by a designated electricity supplier under Article 11 and the name of the designated electricity supplier which produced that GBROC and of the total number of GBROCs produced to the Authority under Article 11 in respect of the obligation period to which the specified day relates.
(2) The Authority shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving a notification from the Great Britain Authority as to the NIROC identifiers of NIROCs produced to it by Great Britain designated suppliers under GBRO Orders, inform the Great Britain Authority of—
(a) the NIROC identifier of any NIROC so notified which it has revoked under Article 23 and whether it has issued a replacement NIROC under Article 23(4)(b) in respect of any such NIROC (unless that replacement NIROC has itself been revoked);
(b) the NIROC identifier of any NIROC so notified that has also been produced by a designated electricity supplier under Article 3(2) and the date on which it was so produced.
(3) The Authority may conduct enquiries or investigations in respect of whether any electricity which is or may be the subject of a GBROC issued under any provision included in a GBRO Order by virtue of section 32B(2A) of the Electricity Act has been supplied to customers in Northern Ireland and if, as a result of any such enquiry or investigation, the Authority is not satisfied that any such electricity has been so supplied it shall notify the Great Britain Authority accordingly.
(4) The Authority shall as soon as reasonably practicable after the specified day notify the Great Britain Authority as to the number of NIROCs produced to the Authority under Article 3 by each designated electricity supplier in respect of the obligation period to which the specified day relates.
(5) The Authority shall as soon as reasonably practicable after the specified day notify the Great Britain Authority as to—
(a) which designated electricity suppliers have discharged their renewables obligation in full in respect of the obligation period to which the specified day relates; and
(b) which designated electricity suppliers have discharged their renewables obligation in part in respect of the obligation period to which the specified day relates and the amount of electricity covered by all the qualifying certificates that each such designated electricity supplier has produced to the Authority in respect of the obligation period to which the specified day relates.
(6) The Authority shall as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the late payment period notify the Great Britain Authority as to—
(a) which designated electricity suppliers are to be treated as having discharged their renewables obligation in full in respect of the obligation period to which the end of the late payment period relates by virtue of Article 26(2); and
(b) which designated electricity suppliers are to be treated as having discharged their renewables obligation in part in respect of the obligation period to which the end of the late payment period relates by virtue of Article 26(3) and the amount of electricity covered by all the qualifying certificates that each such designated electricity supplier has produced to the Authority in respect of the obligation period to which the late payment period relates.
29. In addition to the functions assigned to it elsewhere in this Order, the Authority shall have the following specific functions—
(a) keeping, maintaining and making available to the public a list of generating stations granted preliminary accreditation and accreditation in accordance with Article 30, together with any applicable conditions attached to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation;
(b) keeping and maintaining a list of NIROCs which have been revoked and making such list available to the public;
(c) calculating and publishing before the start of each obligation period (with the exception of the first obligation period to which this Order relates) the amount of the payment per megawatt hour of electricity referred to in Article 10 resulting from the adjustments made to reflect changes in the retail prices index;
(d) publishing from time to time the total NIROC claim;
(e) by 1st April each year (with the exception of 1st April 2007 and 1 April 2008) publishing an annual report in relation to the obligation period ending on the 31st March in the previous calendar year, such report to include details (or, in the case of sub-paragraph (v), a summary) of—
(i) the compliance of each designated electricity supplier with his renewables obligation, including the extent to which that obligation has been met by the production of NIROCs pursuant to Article 3 or 12, payments made under Article 10 or the production of eligible GBROCs pursuant to Article 11 or treated as met by payments made under Article 26;
(ii) the sums received by each United Kingdom supplier under Articles 25 and 26;
(iii) the number of NIROCs issued by the Authority in accordance with Articles 14, 15 and 23, the number of NIROCs accepted by it as evidence under Article 3(1), the number of GBROCs accepted by it under Article 11, the number of NIROCs accepted by it under Article 12, and the number of NIROCs issued but not yet deleted in respect of the obligation period;
(iv) the number of NIROCs respect by the Authority in accordance with Articles 14, 15 and 23, broken down into different descriptions of generating stations (as referred to in paragraph 2 of Schedule 3);
(v) the outcome of any enquiries or investigations conducted by the Authority pursuant to paragraph (f); and
(vi) any other matters which the Authority considers relevant to the implementation of this Order;
(f) monitoring implementation of the renewables obligation and compliance with this Order by designated electricity suppliers and operators of generating stations (including compliance by operators of generating stations with any conditions attached to their accreditation) and such monitoring may include conducting enquiries or investigations into—
(i) the quantities of electricity generated from eligible renewable sources by accredited generating stations;
(ii) the quantities of such electricity supplied to customers in Northern Ireland;
(iii) the transfer and holding of NIROCs (including the transfer and holding of NIROCs issued to agents by virtue of Article 15);
(iv) the effect of such matters on the making and allocation of payments under Articles 10, 25 and 26; and
(v) the effect of the renewables obligation on designated electricity suppliers and the operators of generating stations;
(g) publishing at its discretion reports of enquiries or investigations conducted by the Authority pursuant to paragraph (f); and
(h) the provision of such information to the Great Britain Authority as the Authority considers may be relevant to the exercise of the Great Britain Authority’s functions under any GBRO Order.
30.—(1) Paragraphs (2) to (9) shall apply to the granting and withdrawing of preliminary accreditation and accreditation of generating stations.
(2) Where a generating station in respect of which—
(a) consent under Article 39 of the Electricity (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 has been obtained; or
(b) planning permission under the Planning (Northern Ireland) Order 1991(14) has been granted
has not been commissioned, the Authority may, upon the application of the person who proposes to construct or operate the generating station, grant the station preliminary accreditation as being capable of generating electricity from eligible renewable sources.
(3) Where a generating station has been commissioned, the Authority may, upon application of its operator (or, where NIROCs relating to electricity generated in whole or in part by that generating station will be issued to an agent by virtue of Article 15, that agent), grant the station accreditation for the purposes of Article 16(2).
(4) Where a generating station has been granted preliminary accreditation (and such preliminary accreditation has not been withdrawn) an application for its accreditation is validly made under paragraph (3), the Authority shall not grant that application if—
(a) in the Authority’s view there was a material change in circumstances since the preliminary accreditation was granted;
(b) the Authority has reason to believe that the information on which the decision to grant the preliminary accreditation was based was incorrect in a material particular; or
(c) there has been a change in applicable legislation since the preliminary accreditation was granted such that, had the application for preliminary accreditation been made under the amended legislation, it would not in the Authority’s view have been granted
but otherwise shall grant the application.
(5) The Authority may, in granting preliminary accreditation or accreditation, attach such conditions as appear to it to be appropriate.
(6) Where any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraph (7) apply, the Authority may—
(a) withdraw the preliminary accreditation or accreditation from any generating station;
(b) amend conditions attached to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation under paragraph (5);
(c) attach conditions to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation.
(7) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (6) are as follows—
(a) in the Authority’s view there has been a material change in the circumstances since the preliminary accreditation or accreditation was granted;
(b) any condition subject to which preliminary accreditation or accreditation was granted has not been complied with;
(c) the Authority has reason to believe that the information on which the decision to grant the preliminary accreditation or accreditation was based was incorrect in a material particular;
(d) there has been a change in applicable legislation since the preliminary accreditation or accreditation was granted such that, had the application for preliminary accreditation or accreditation been made under the amended legislation, it would not in the Authority’s view have been granted.
(8) The Authority shall notify the applicant in writing of—
(a) its decision on an application for preliminary accreditation or accreditation of a generating station;
(b) any conditions attached to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation; and
(c) any withdrawal of preliminary accreditation or accreditation.
(9) In providing written notification under paragraph (8), the Authority shall specify the date on which the grant or withdrawal or preliminary accreditation or accreditation is to take effect and, where applicable, the date on which any conditions attached to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation are to take effect.
(10) In paragraph (2), the reference to the person who proposes to construct the generating station shall include a person who arranges for the construction of the generating station.
The Renewables Obligation Order (Northern Ireland) 2007