The Renewables Obligation Order 2006

PART 8E+WProvision of Information and Functions of the Authority

Provision of information to the AuthorityE+W

28.—(1) The Authority may require a designated electricity supplier to provide it with such information in such form and within such time as it may reasonably require which is, in the Authority’s opinion, relevant to the question whether the supplier is discharging, or has discharged, its renewables obligation in relation to any obligation period.

(2) The Authority may request any person who generates, supplies, distributes or transmits electricity in relation to which a ROC has been or may be issued, or any person who buys or sells such electricity or ROCs (otherwise than as a consumer) to provide the Authority with such information in such form and within such time as it may reasonably request in order to carry out any of its functions under this Order.

Exchange of information with the Northern Ireland AuthorityE+W

29.—(1) The Authority shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after the specified day, notify the Northern Ireland Authority of the NIROC identifier of each NIROC produced to it by a designated electricity supplier under article 12 and the name of the designated electricity supplier which produced that NIROC and of the total number of NIROCs produced to the Authority under article 12 in respect of the obligation period to which the specified day relates.

(2) The Authority shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving a notification from the Northern Ireland Authority as to the ROC identifiers of ROCs produced to it by the Northern Ireland suppliers under any NIRO Order, inform the Northern Ireland Authority of—

(a)the ROC identifier of any ROC so notified which it has revoked under article 20 and whether it has issued a replacement ROC under article 20(4)(b) in respect of any such ROC (unless that replacement ROC has itself been revoked);

(b)the ROC identifier of any ROC so notified that has also been produced by a designated electricity supplier under article 3(2) and the date on which it was also produced.

(3) The Authority shall as soon as reasonably practicable after the specified day notify the Northern Ireland Authority as to the number of certificates produced to the Authority under article 3 and the number of certificates certifying the matters in section 32B(2A) of the Act produced to the Authority under article 13 by each designated electricity supplier in respect of the obligation period to which the specified day relates.

Functions of the AuthorityE+W

30.  In addition to the functions assigned to it elsewhere in this Order, the Authority shall have the following specific functions—

(a)keeping, maintaining and making available to the public a list of generating stations granted preliminary accreditation and accreditation in accordance with article 31, together with any applicable conditions attached to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation;

(b)keeping and maintaining a list of ROCs which have been revoked and making such list available to the public;

(c)calculating and publishing before the start of each obligation period (with the exception of the first obligation period to which this Order relates) the amount of the payment per megawatt hour of electricity referred to in article 11 resulting from the adjustments made to reflect changes in the retail prices index;

(d)calculating and publishing before the start of each obligation period (with the exception of the first obligation period to which this Order relates) the figure referred to in article 27(2) resulting from the adjustments made to reflect changes in the retail prices index;

(e)publishing from time to time the total ROC claim;

(f)by 1st April each year (with the exception of 1st April 2006 and 1st April 2007)) publishing an annual report in relation to the obligation period ending on the 31st March in the previous calendar year, such report to include details (or, in the case of sub-paragraph (ix), a summary) of—

(i)the compliance of each designated electricity supplier with its renewables obligation, including the extent to which that obligation has been met by the production of ROCs pursuant to article 3 or article 13, payments made under article 11 or the production of NIROCs pursuant to article 12, or treated as met by payments made under article 23;

(ii)the sums received by each United Kingdom supplier under articles 22 and 23;

(iii)the number of ROCs issued by the Authority in accordance with articles 15 and 20, the number of ROCs and other certificates accepted by it as evidence under article 3(1), the number of NIROCs accepted by it under article 12, the number of ROCs and other certificates accepted by it under article 13, and the number of ROCs issued but not yet deleted in respect of the obligation period;

(iv)the number of ROCs issued by the Authority in accordance with articles 15 and 20 broken down into different descriptions of generating stations (as referred to in paragraph 2 of Schedule 2);

(v)any notices published by the Authority under article 24(2);

(vi)any instalment payments made to the Authority in accordance with article 24(7), during the period to which the annual report relates;

(vii)the sums received by each compliant United Kingdom supplier under article 25(2), during the period to which the annual report relates;

(viii)any recalculations carried out by the Authority in accordance with article 26(3), during the period to which the annual report relates;

(ix)the outcome of any enquiries or investigations conducted by the Authority pursuant to paragraph (g); and

(x)any other matters which the Authority considers relevant to the implementation of this Order;

(g)monitoring implementation of the renewables obligation and compliance with this Order by designated electricity suppliers and operators of generating stations (including compliance by operators of generating stations with any conditions attached to their accreditation) and such monitoring may include conducting enquiries or investigations into—

(i)the quantities of electricity generated from eligible renewable sources by accredited generating stations;

(ii)the quantities of such electricity supplied to customers in Great Britain;

(iii)the transfer and holding of ROCs;

(iv)the effect of such matters on the making and allocation of payments under articles 11, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26; and

(v)the effect of the renewables obligation on designated electricity suppliers and the operators of generating stations;

(h)publishing at its discretion reports of enquiries or investigations conducted by the Authority pursuant to paragraph (g); and

(i)the provision of such information to the Northern Ireland Authority as the Authority considers may be relevant to the exercise of the Northern Ireland Authority’s functions under any NIRO Order.

Preliminary accreditation and accreditation of generating stationsE+W

31.—(1) Paragraphs (2) to (9) shall apply to the granting and withdrawing of preliminary accreditation and accreditation of generating stations.

(2) Where a generating station in respect of which—

(a)consent under section 36 of the Act has been obtained; or

(b)planning permission under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 has been granted,

has not been commissioned, the Authority may, upon the application of the person who proposes to construct or operate the generating station, grant the station preliminary accreditation as being capable of generating electricity from eligible renewable sources.

(3) Where a generating station has been commissioned, the Authority may, upon the application of its operator, grant the station accreditation for the purposes of article 16(2).

(4) Where a station has been granted preliminary accreditation (and such preliminary accreditation has not been withdrawn) and an application for its accreditation is validly made under paragraph (3), the Authority shall not grant that application if—

(a)in the Authority’s view there has been a material change in circumstances since the preliminary accreditation was granted;

(b)the Authority has reason to believe that the information on which the decision to grant the preliminary accreditation was based was incorrect in a material particular; or

(c)there has been a change in applicable legislation since the preliminary accreditation was granted such that, had the application for preliminary accreditation been made under the amended legislation, it would not in the Authority’s view have been granted;

but otherwise shall grant the application.

(5) The Authority may, in granting preliminary accreditation or accreditation, attach such conditions as appear to it to be appropriate.

(6) Where any of the circumstances mentioned in paragraph (7) apply, the Authority may—

(a)withdraw the preliminary accreditation or accreditation from any generating station;

(b)amend conditions attached to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation under paragraph (5);

(c)attach conditions to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation.

(7) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (6) are as follows—

(a)in the Authority’s view there has been a material change in circumstances since the preliminary accreditation or accreditation was granted;

(b)any condition subject to which preliminary accreditation or accreditation was granted has not been complied with;

(c)the Authority has reason to believe that the information on which the decision to grant the preliminary accreditation or accreditation was based was incorrect in a material particular;

(d)there has been a change in applicable legislation since the preliminary accreditation or accreditation was granted such that, had the application for preliminary accreditation or accreditation been made under the amended legislation, it would not in the Authority’s view have been granted.

(8) The Authority shall notify the applicant in writing of—

(a)its decision on an application for preliminary accreditation or accreditation of a generating station;

(b)any conditions attached to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation; and

(c)any withdrawal of preliminary accreditation or accreditation.

(9) In providing written notification under paragraph (8), the Authority shall specify the date on which the grant or withdrawal of preliminary accreditation or accreditation is to take effect and, where applicable, the date on which any conditions attached to the preliminary accreditation or accreditation are to take effect.

(10) In paragraph (2), the reference to the person who proposes to construct the generating station shall include a person who arranges for the construction of the generating station.