Legal background
Section 1 – Regional rates
- Article 6 of the Rates (Northern Ireland) Order 1977 requires a regional rate to be set for each rating year by the Department of Finance. Pursuant to Article 7 of that Order, it must be set by an order made by the Department and subject to affirmative resolution in the Assembly. This is not possible in the absence of a sitting Assembly so the rate for the 2019/20 rating year is set by this Act. The regional rate implemented by this Act is set without prejudice to the Department’s powers to vary it by order in the usual way – and for the whole year - once Northern Ireland Ministerial offices are filled (see section 1(4) and (5)).
Sections 2 to 5 and Schedule - Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme
- The Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 (the "Principal Regulations") established a Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme for non-domestic use, made under the powers conferred by section 113 of the Energy Act 2011. The Scheme is sponsored by the Department for the Economy (DfE) and the Principal Regulations also confer functions on DfE with regard to the general administration of the Scheme. The aim is to promote the use of renewable heat and it does that by providing for periodic payments to be made to accredited installations.
- The Principal Regulations have been amended on several occasions to address concerns about the operation of the scheme. The Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 (the "2015 Regulations") introduced a tiered tariff and an annual cap of 400,000kWhth for certain installations accredited after 18 November 2015. Installations accredited before that date were able to receive untiered and uncapped payments, a situation which created unacceptable pressures on public expenditure. Accordingly, the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2017 (the "2017 Regulations") introduced the same tiered tariff and annual cap set out in the 2015 Regulations to installations accredited before 18 November 2015. As the 2017 Regulations were time limited, ceasing to have effect on 31 March 2018, a corresponding provision was introduced on 1 April 2018 as part of the Northern Ireland (Regional Rates and Energy) Act 2018 to enable the continued protection of public finances while further work was undertaken to develop and implement long-term cost control measures.
- The relevant provisions of the 2018 Act revoked and replaced the provisions in the Principal Regulations authorising payments to installations accredited before 18 November 2015. This meant that, when the provisions in the 2018 Act ceased to have effect, there would no longer have been a legal basis for payments in respect of those installations. The relevant provisions in the 2018 Act expire on 31 March 2019. In the absence of a sitting Assembly and an Executive, they could not be extended other than by primary legislation at Westminster. As such, corresponding provision for tariffs from 2019/20 and for the remainder of the Scheme is set out in this Act.
- The powers provided for the Department for the Economy (DfE) to introduce voluntary buy-out arrangements, under section 4, are limited to a three year period after the Act is introduced and can only be exercised during the period while there is no Northern Ireland Executive. The "period while there is no Northern Ireland Executive" is defined as the period beginning on the date of commencement of section 4 of this Act, and ending on the next occasion when the offices of all of the Northern Ireland Ministers are filled.
