Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act 1982

12Supply of gas by other persons

(1)For section 29 of the 1972 Act there shall be substituted the following sections—

“29Restrictions on supply by other persons.

(1)Subject to section 29A below, the Secretary of State's consent is required for gas to be supplied through pipes to any premises, except supply by or to the Corporation.

(2)Consent is not to be given to the supply of gas by any person to premises situated within 25 yards from a distribution main of the Corporation unless either—

(a)the Secretary of State is of the opinion that the rate of supply to those premises would be likely to exceed 25,000 therms a year; or

(b)the Corporation, having been given the opportunity to do so, have not objected to the giving of consent.

(3)The Secretary of State's consent may be given—

(a)either unconditionally or subject to conditions ; and

(b)either with reference to particular cases or by means of orders of general application.

(4)A specific consent given to any person (that is to say, consent given to him otherwise than by order of general application) is irrevocable and may be given for a specified period or indefinitely.

(5)Where consent has been given by an order of general application, any person who proposes to undertake a supply which is covered by that general consent may notify the Secretary of State of his proposal (in the manner specified by the order), whereupon subsection (4) above applies as if specific consent either unlimited in duration or, if the order so provides, for the period there specified had been given to him for that supply.

(6)For the purposes of this section—

(a)a person providing gas for his own use shall not in so doing be deemed to supply gas, and gas provided by a company for the use of any subsidiary or holding company of that company, or of any subsidiary of a holding company of that company, shall be deemed to be provided for the use of that company;

(b)a person providing, for use in a flat or part of a building let by him, gas supplied to him shall not in so doing be deemed to be supplying gas.

29AExceptions to section 29.

(1)Where a person (in this section referred to as a supplier) notifies the Secretary of State that he proposes to undertake a supply of gas to any premises at a rate in excess of 2,000,000 therms a year (in this section referred to as 'the required rate'), the Secretary of State's consent under section 29 above is not required for that supply unless, within six weeks of receiving the notification, the Secretary of State notifies the supplier either—

(a)that he is of the opinion that the rate of supply to those premises would be unlikely to exceed the required rate ; or

(b)that he is unable to form an opinion as to whether the rate of supply to those premises would or would not be likely to exceed the required rate.

(2)Where a supplier has given the Secretary of State a notification under subsection (1) above and—

(a)the rate of supply to the premises to which the notification relates fails to exceed the required rate for three successive periods of twelve months;

(b)the supplier fails to furnish the Secretary of State with such information as he may require for the purpose of determining whether the condition in paragraph (a) above is fulfilled ; or

(c)the supplier fails to afford the Secretary of State with such facilities as he may require for the purpose of verifying any information furnished in pursuance of such a requirement as is mentioned in paragraph (b) above,

the Secretary of State may direct that the supplier's notification shall be treated as invalid for the purposes of that subsection except as regards gas previously supplied.”

(2)Section 4 of the 1934 Act and section 8 of the [1976 c. 76.] Energy Act 1976 (which are superseded by this section) shall cease to have effect.

(3)Each of the following, namely—

(a)an authorisation given by the Secretary of State under the said section 4 ;

(b)a consent given by him or by the Gas Corporation under the said section 8 ; and

(c)a consent given by the Corporation under section 29 of the 1972 Act either as originally enacted or as amended by the said section 8,

shall have effect as if it were a consent given by the Secretary of State under the said section 29 as substituted by this section.