(1)Section 16A of the Electricity Act 1989 (procedure for requiring a connection) is amended as follows.
(2)After subsection (4) insert—
“(4A)The Secretary of State may, after consulting the Authority, make provision by regulations for the purpose of entitling an electricity distributor to require a person requiring a connection in pursuance of section 16(1) to pay connection offer expenses to such extent as is reasonable in all the circumstances.
(4B)In this section “connection offer expenses” means expenses which—
(a)are of a kind specified by the regulations, and
(b)have been reasonably incurred by the electricity distributor.
(4C)Regulations under subsection (4A) may specify—
(a)circumstances in which an electricity distributor may not require the payment of connection offer expenses by virtue of the regulations;
(b)the manner in which expenses reasonably incurred by an electricity distributor are to be calculated for the purposes of subsection (4B)(b).”
(3)In subsection (5) for “and any information” to “connection” substitute “, any information requested under subsection (3) and any amount payable by virtue of subsection (4A) to the distributor by the person requiring the connection, the distributor shall give to that person”.