The Electricity and Gas (Energy Efficiency Obligations) Order 2001

Citation, commencement, and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Electricity and Gas (Energy Efficiency Obligations) Order 2001 and shall come into force on the day after that on which it is made.

(2) In this Order—

“the 1986 Act” means the Gas Act 1986;

“the 1989 Act” means the Electricity Act 1989;

“carbon savings”, in relation to the fuel, or as the case may be, each of the fuels, used in any total activity, scheme or qualifying action, means the product of—

(a)

the annualised energy savings attributable to the fuel; and

(b)

the carbon intensity of the fuel, as specified in “Environmental Reporting—Guidelines for Company Reporting on greenhouse gas emissions”(1),

expressed in tonnes of carbon per year;

“domestic consumer” means—

(a)

a consumer to whom electricity or gas is supplied at domestic premises in any part of Great Britain; and

(b)

a person who requests electricity or gas to be supplied to him at such premises (“future consumer”),

and where electricity or gas is supplied to a consumer, or proposed to be supplied to a future consumer, both at domestic premises and at premises that are not domestic premises, means the consumer or future consumer in relation only to the domestic premises;

“domestic premises” means premises at which a supply of electricity or gas is taken wholly or mainly for domestic purposes;

“energy savings”, in relation to any total activity, scheme or qualifying action, means the improvement or estimated improvement in energy efficiency achieved or expected to be achieved after completion of the action, expressed in gigawatt hours;

“energy service action” means action that—

(a)

includes at least two activities that are qualifying action for the purposes of this Order, of which one—

(i)

may reasonably be expected to improve the insulation of the walls or loft of the domestic premises concerned; or

(ii)

may reasonably be expected to improve the efficiency of the principal system for heating those premises; or

(iii)

consists of the supply to those premises of electricity, heat, gas or liquid in the circumstances mentioned in any of sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) of paragraph (3) below; and

(b)

is undertaken in pursuance of an agreement between the supplier or a person acting on its behalf, and a domestic consumer, the terms of which also require the supplier—

(i)

to undertake an assessment of the energy efficiency of those premises;

(ii)

to provide advice to the consumer as to the means by which the energy efficiency of those premises may be improved, taking into account his circumstances and those of any other occupant of the premises; and

(iii)

to offer the consumer the option of making an arrangement with the supplier for deferring the whole or any part of the cost to the consumer of the activities for which the agreement provides;

“fuel-standardised”, in relation to a number of gigawatt or terawatt hours, means the number of such hours after the application of the relevant multiplier;

“gigawatt hour” means one million kilowatt hours;

“private landlord” means a landlord other than a social landlord;

“qualifying action” means activity which qualifies under article 6 for the purpose of achieving the whole or any part of a supplier’s target;

“relevant multiplier” means—

• as regards coal, 0.56;

• as regards electricity, 0.80;

• as regards gas, 0.35;

• as regards liquid petroleum gas, 0.43;

• as regards oil, 0.46;

“social landlord” means a local authority or a housing association;

“subsection (4) requirements” means—

(a)

in relation to electricity suppliers, the requirements of subsection (4) of section 41A of the 1989 Act;

(b)

in relation to gas suppliers, the requirements of subsection (4) of section 33BC of the 1986 Act;

“target”, in relation to—

(a)

a supplier which is subject to an energy efficiency obligation under article 2; and

(b)

any period,

means the energy efficiency target having effect for the time being as regards that period;

“terawatt hour” means 1,000 million kilowatt hours; and

“total activity” means the totality of the activity that a supplier undertakes, or intends to undertake, with a view to achieving the whole of its target.

(3) For the purposes of this Order, the promotion of the supply to premises of—

(a) electricity generated by a generating station which is operated for the purposes of producing heat, or a cooling effect, in association with electricity;

(b) heat produced in association with electricity or steam produced from (or air or water heated by) such heat; or

(c) any gas or liquid subjected to a cooling effect produced in association with electricity,

shall be treated as promoting energy efficiency.

(1)

Published by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, March 2001. Copies may be obtained from PO Box 236, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, LS23 7NB (Tel: [phone]) or downloaded from www.defra.gov.uk/environment/envrp/gas/index.htm.