The Contracts for Difference (Allocation) (Amendment) Regulations 2015

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations are made further to the powers contained in Chapter 2 (contracts for difference) of Part 2 (electricity market reform) of the Energy Act 2013 (c. 32). They make amendments to the Contracts for Difference (Allocation) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/2011) (“the 2014 Regulations”).

Regulation 3 inserts new definitions into regulation 3 of the 2014 Regulations in relation to new regulations 14A to 14D.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 4 of the 2014 Regulations to provide for a minimum period to expire before an allocation round may commence where an exemptions request notice is given under regulation 14C.

Regulation 5 inserts regulations 14A to 14D into the 2014 Regulations. Those regulations make provision for a further type of application which is excluded from an allocation round—

(a) regulation 14A provides that where a CFD is offered but the offer lapses or where a CFD is terminated in certain cases earlier than 13 months after the date of the CFD notification in respect of the CFD, the site of the main structures of the eligible generating station is an excluded site during an exclusion period. During the exclusion period, no application may be made in respect of a CFD unit where the site of the main structures of the eligible generating station under that application is the same as, or includes any part of, the excluded site (“a temporary site exclusion”), unless an exemption certificate, given by the Secretary of State, is held by the applicant or the circumstances in paragraph (5) of the regulation apply;

(b) regulation 14B provides for the grounds on which the Secretary of State may give an exemption certificate;

(c) regulation 14C sets out the process which the Secretary of State must follow before an allocation round is established in order to allow a person to request an exemption certificate in respect of that round and sets out the process in relation to such a request;

(d) regulation 14D requires the CFD counterparty to maintain a register, to be made publicly available, of each excluded site to which a temporary site exclusion applies.

Regulation 6 corrects a cross-reference error in regulation 51(8) of the 2014 Regulations.

A full impact assessment of the effect that the CFD regime will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Department of Energy and Climate Change at 3 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2AW and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside this instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.