The Gas (Individual Standards of Performance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2014

Payments

14.—(1) Paragraph (4) applies where a gas supplier is obliged to make a payment to a customer under any of regulations 3, 5, 6, 11, or 12.

(2) Paragraph (5) applies where a gas conveyor is obliged to make a payment to a customer whose premises are directly connected to the pipe-line system of another gas conveyor under regulation 7.

(3) Paragraph (6) applies—

(a) where a gas conveyor is obliged to make a payment to a customer whose premises are directly connected to its pipe-line system under any of regulations 3 to 11 (inclusive); or

(b) where a gas supplier receives a payment from a gas conveyor for onward transmission to a customer whose premises are directly connected to that gas conveyor’s pipe-line system; or

(c) where a gas conveyor receives a payment from a gas conveyor for onward transmission to a customer whose premises are directly connected to its pipe-line system.

(4) Where this paragraph applies and the gas supplier fails within the prescribed period from the applicable date to dispatch a notice to the customer advising that the payment is due to the customer and to make payment to the customer of the sum to which he is entitled, the gas supplier shall, except in any of the circumstances described in paragraph (7), pay to the customer the prescribed sum.

(5) Where this paragraph applies and the gas conveyor fails within the prescribed period from the applicable date to make payment to the customer, or to the other gas conveyor or to the other gas supplier for onward transmission to the customer of the sum to which he is entitled, the gas conveyor shall, except in any of the circumstances described in paragraph (7), pay the prescribed sum to the customer or to that other gas conveyor or other gas supplier for onward transmission to the customer.

(6) Where this paragraph applies and the relevant gas supplier or gas conveyor fails to make payment to the customer of the sum to which he is entitled—

(a) within the prescribed period from the applicable date, where paragraph (3)(a) applies; or

(b) within the prescribed period from the applicable date, where paragraph (3)(b) applies; or

(c) within the prescribed period from the applicable date, where paragraph (3)(c) applies,

the gas supplier or gas conveyor shall, except in any of the circumstances described in paragraph (7), pay the customer the prescribed sum.

(7) The circumstances described in this paragraph are—

(a) each of the circumstances described in regulation 15; and

(b) that there is a genuine dispute between the relevant operator and the customer as to whether the relevant operator is obliged to make the payment.

(8) Where a relevant operator is required to make a payment under these Regulations—

(a) in relation to any premises of which more than one person is a customer, a payment to any one or more of the customers in respect of those premises shall be a complete discharge of the obligation of the relevant operator to make the payment to all the customers of those premises;

(b) nothing in, or done by a relevant operator in consequence of, these Regulations shall determine who is beneficially entitled to any payment made in pursuance of these Regulations;

(c) nothing in these Regulations shall permit a relevant operator to make a payment other than by means of—

(i) a cheque or cash or BACS transfer; or

(ii) an account credit for charges incurred or to be incurred in respect of the supply or the provision of any gas meter or the provision of any connection;

(d) where a gas conveyor elects to make any payment directly to a customer, the payment by the gas conveyor to a person whom it reasonably believes to be the customer in respect of the premises in relation to which the entitlement arises shall be a complete discharge of the obligation of the relevant gas conveyor to dispatch the notice or make the payment to the actual customer of those premises; and

(e) in relation to a customer whose premises are directly connected to the pipe-line system of another gas conveyor, a payment to that other gas conveyor for onward transmission to the customer shall be a complete discharge of the obligation of the gas conveyor to make the payment to the customer.

(9) where all or part of the prescribed sum is paid by a gas conveyor to a customer under these Regulations, such payment shall not prevent that gas conveyor from recovering payment (or part of that payment) from another gas conveyor where that other gas conveyor is wholly or partly responsible for the liability arising under these Regulations.

(10) In this regulation only—

“payment” means, in respect of regulations 7, 8 and 9 the aggregate of payments due to a customer under each of these regulations; and

“applicable date” means—

(a)

in relation to paragraph (5), the day upon which the gas conveyor receives notification from the other gas conveyor in accordance with regulation 7(3)(e); and

(b)

in relation to paragraph (6), in respect of regulation 10, the day upon which the gas conveyor receives a claim for compensation from the customer.