Renewables Obligation Order (Northern Ireland) 2005

Functions of the Authority

18.  The Authority shall have the functions assigned to it elsewhere in this Order, including any general or specific role, duty or decision making function in addition to the following specific functions –

(a) the accreditation of generating stations (to be notified to the operator of a generating station which is being accredited in writing from such date and subject to such conditions as the Authority considers appropriate) and the withdrawal of such accreditation or the alteration of any conditions attached to it (such withdrawal or alteration to be notified to the operator of the affected generating station in writing);

(b) keeping and maintaining a list of accredited generating stations and the conditions for their accreditation and making such list available to the public;

(c) issuing and revoking NIROCs in accordance with Articles 4 and 5;

(d) keeping and maintaining a list of NIROCs which have been revoked and making such a list available to the public;

(e) 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 8 resulting from the adjustments made to reflect changes in the retail prices index;

(f) by 1st April each year (with the exception of 1st April 2005 and 2006) 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, payments made under Article 8 or the production of eligible GBROCs pursuant to Article 9 or treated as met by payments made under Article 17;

(ii) the sums received by each United Kingdom supplier under Articles 15 and 17;

(iii) the number of NIROCs issued by the Authority in accordance with Articles 4 and 5, the number of NIROCs accepted by it as evidence under Article 3(1), the number of GBROCs accepted by it under Article 9 and the number of NIROCs issued but not yet deleted in respect of the obligation period;

(iv) the number of NIROCs issued by the Authority in accordance with Articles 4 and 5 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 (g); and

(vi) any other matters which the Authority considers relevant to the implementation of this Order;

(g) monitoring implementation of the renewables obligation and compliance by designated electricity suppliers and operators of generating stations with this Order (including compliance by operators of generating stations with any conditions attached to their accreditation) and such monitoring may include conducting enquiries or investigations into the quantities of electricity generated from eligible renewable sources by accredited generating stations, the quantities of such electricity supplied to customers in Northern Ireland, the transfer and holding of NIROCs, the effect of such matters on the making and allocation of payments under Articles 8, 15 and 17 and the effect of the renewables obligation on designated electricity suppliers and the operators of generating stations;

(h) publishing at its discretion reports of enquiries or investigations conducted by the Authority pursuant to paragraph (g); and

(i) 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.