Citation and interpretation

1. —(1) This Order may be cited as the Energy Act 2004 (Commencement No. 6) Order 2005.

(2) In this Order—

“the Act” means the Energy Act 2004 ;

“adjustment formula” means a formula under which the price of electricity is adjusted having regard to the current market price of some other commodity;

“affiliate”, in relation to a body corporate that is the owner or operator of a generating station, means a subsidiary or holding company of that body corporate and any subsidiary or holding company of such holding company (and, for the purposes of this definition, “subsidiary” and “holding company” have the meanings ascribed to them in section 736 of the Companies Act 1985 ( 2 ));

“applicable turnover” means the amounts, ascertained in conformity with normal accounting practice in Great Britain, which are—

after deduction of value added tax and any other taxes based on such amounts;

“connected person”, in relation to an owner or operator of a generating station, means a person connected to him within the meaning of section 839 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 ( 3 );

“distribution system” and “transmission system” have the meaning that those terms bear in the Electricity Act 1989 ( 4 );

“high electricity user” means a body corporate which, for each year since the commencement of a long term, fixed-price contract under which electricity is supplied to it, has spent in excess of twenty per cent of its applicable turnover on electricity, and which receives under that contract at least ninety per cent of all the electricity which it receives;

“long term, fixed-price contract” means a contract entered into before 1st April 2002 which is still in force on the date this Order is made, and which provides for an electricity generator (or a person who is a connected person or an affiliate in relation to an electricity generator) to provide a specified amount (or a specified maximum amount) of electricity to a specified consumer at a price which is specified either numerically or by reference to an adjustment formula; and

“stand-by electricity” means electricity conveyed temporarily, periodically or intermittently to make good any unplanned shortfall in the availability of electricity to the recipient for its own consumption from a generating station owned or operated by the recipient or by a person who is a connected person or an affiliate in relation to the recipient, where such shortfall arises from that generating station being wholly or partly out of commission for a temporary period.

Commencement

2. Section 177 of the Act shall come into force on 1st November 2005.

3. —(1) Except for the purposes mentioned in paragraph (2), section 179 of the Act shall come into force on 1st April 2006.

(2) Section 179 shall come into force on 1st April 2010—

(a) for the purposes of sections 32 to 32C of the Electricity Act 1989, in respect of any electricity which (without being conveyed to the premises wholly or partly by means of a distribution system) is supplied to premises occupied by a high electricity user from a substation to which it has been conveyed by means of a transmission system; and

(b) in respect of any electricity which, being stand-by electricity, is supplied (without being conveyed to the premises wholly or partly by means of a distribution system) to premises occupied by a body corporate from a substation to which it has been conveyed by means of a transmission system.

4. Section 197(9) and Part 1 of Schedule 23, in so far as they relate to the repeal of section 28(3)(b) of the Utilities Act 2000( 5 ), shall come into force—

(a) on 1st April 2006 except for the purposes mentioned in article 3(2); and

(b) on 1st April 2010 for those purposes.