Gas Act 1986

8(1)In section 19(6) of the [1967 c. 9.] General Rate Act 1967 (definitions for purposes of the general rule for the ascertainment of rateable value), in paragraph (b) of the definition of " non-industrial building ", after sub-paragraph (ii) there shall be inserted “; or

(iii)any public gas supplier (within the meaning of Part I of the Gas Act 1986) or any private gas supplier (within the meaning of section 33A below).”

(2)For section 33 of that Act there shall be substituted the following section—

“33Public gas suppliers

(1)Subject to subsection (2) and without prejudice suppliers to subsections (3) and (5) of this section, no premises occupied by a public gas supplier (within the meaning of Part I of the Gas Act 1986) to whom this section is applied by order of the Secretary of State shall be liable to be rated or to be included in any valuation list or in any rate ; and in the following provisions of this section and in Schedule 6 to this Act ' relevant supplier' means any public gas supplier to whom this section is so applied.

(2)The foregoing subsection shall not apply—

(a)to premises used as a dwelling ; or

(b)to premises occupied by a relevant supplier wholly or mainly for the purposes of an undertaking for the supply of water ; or

(c)to premises occupied and used by a relevant supplier wholly or mainly for the manufacture of plant or gas fittings ; or

(d)to a shop, room or other place occupied and used by a relevant supplier wholly or mainly for the sale, display or demonstration of apparatus or accessories for use by consumers of gas (any use for the receipt of payments for gas supplied being disregarded); or

(e)subject and without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 5 of Schedule 6 to this Act, to office premises occupied by a relevant supplier and not situated on operational land of his.

(3)For the purposes of the making and levying of a rate for any rating area for any rate period, if in the penultimate year—

(a)a relevant supplier—

(i)supplied gas to consumers in that area; or

(ii)manufactured gas in that area ; or

(iii)produced gas in that area by the application to gas purchased byhimof any process not consisting only of purification, or of blending with other gases, or of both purification and such blending; or

(b)private gas suppliers (within the meaning of section 33A of this Act) supplied to consumers in that area gas which had been conveyed (whether within or outside that area) by pipelines belonging to a relevant supplier,

the relevant supplier shall be treated as occupying in that area during that rate period a hereditament of a rateable value calculated in accordance with the provisions of an order under section 19 of, and paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to, the [1974 c. 7.] Local Government Act 1974.

(4)The hereditament which a relevant supplier is to be treated as occupying in a rating area by virtue of subsection (3) of this section shall be taken not to be situated in any part of that area in which there are leviable, as an additional item of the rate, expenses which are not leviable in the area taken as a whole.

(5)If the Secretary of State is of opinion that payments by way of rates should be made by a relevant supplier by virtue of this subsection by reference to any premises occupied and used by him for the reception or liquefaction of gas or the evaporation of gas in a liquid state, being in any case gas purchased by him, the Secretary of State may, subject to paragraph 6 of Schedule 6 to this Act, make an order designating the premises for the purposes of this subsection and providing for the determination, by such method as may be specified by the order, of a value for the premises for those purposes.

(6)Where an order under subsection (5) of this section is in force, the relevant supplier shall be treated for rating purposes as occupying within the rating area in which the premises designated by the order are situated (and whether or not the relevant supplier occupies or is treated as occupying any other hereditament in that area) a hereditament of a rateable value equal to the value determined as mentioned in that subsection.

(7)Subject to paragraph 6 of Schedule 6 to this Act, the Secretary of State may by order provide that, in such of the provisions of this section, the said Schedule 6, or any other enactment relating to rating as may be specified in the order, any reference to the manufacture of gas shall include a reference to such dealings with gas as may be specified by the order.

(8)There shall have effect for the purposes of this section and an order under section 19 of, and paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to, the [1974 c. 7.] Local Government Act 1974, the supplementary provisions contained in Schedule 6 to this Act; and for the purposes of this section, such an order and that Schedule—

(a)the expression ' gas' means any substance which is or (if it were in a gaseous state) would be gas within the meaning of Part I of the Gas Act 1986 and, without prejudice to the provisions of any order under subsection (7) of this section, the following operations—

(i)the liquefaction of gas, and

(ii)the evaporation of gas in a liquid state,

shall not of themselves be taken to constitute the manufacture of gas or the application of a process to gas;

(b)the expression ' penultimate year', in relation to a rate period or to a year, means the last but one year before that rate period or year ;

(c)the expressions ' office premises' and ' operational land' have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 32(8) of this Act.”

(3)After that section there shall be inserted the following section—

“33APrivate gas suppliers.

(1)The Secretary of State may by order provide that, in such cases and subject to such exceptions and modifications as may be prescribed by the order, section 33 of and Schedule 6 to this Act shall apply to premises occupied by private gas suppliers for or in connection with the supply of gas through pipes to consumers' premises.

(2)In this section—

• ' gas' has the same meaning as in Part I of the Gas Act 1986 ;

• ' private gas supplier' means a person who is authorised by section 6 of the said Act of 1986, or by an authorisation under section 8 of that Act, to supply gas through pipes to consumers' premises.

(3)Any statutory instrument containing an order under this section shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.”

(4)In paragraph 5(1)(b) of Schedule 3 to that Act (classes of machinery or plant deemed to be part of hereditament), for the words " the British Gas Corporation " there shall be substituted the words "a public gas supplier within the meaning of Part I of the Gas Act 1986".

(5)For Schedule 6 to that Act there shall be substituted the following Schedule—

“SCHEDULE 6Public Gas Suppliers

1As respects each rating area in which a relevant supplier will fall to be treated as occupying during any rate period a hereditament of a rateable value calculated in accordance with an order under section 19 of, and paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to, the [1974 c. 7.] Local Government Act 1974, it shall be the duty of the supplier, before the end of the month of October preceding the beginning of that period, to transmit to the rating authority and to the valuation officer a statement setting out particulars of all the matters referred to in such an order and relevant to the purpose of computing the rateable value of that hereditament.

2On receipt of a statement under paragraph 1 above, the valuation officer shall calculate the rateable value of the hereditament which the relevant supplier is to be treated as occupying during the rate period in question, and shall notify the amount of that rateable value to the rating authority before the end of the month of December preceding the beginning of that rate period.

3The duty imposed on a relevant supplier by paragraph 1 above shall be enforceable by civil proceedings by the rating authority or the valuation officer for an injunction or for any other appropriate relief ; and the duty imposed on the valuation officer by paragraph 2 above shall be enforceable by mandamus at the instance of the rating authority.

4(1)Where the valuation officer notifies the amount of a rateable value to the rating authority in accordance with paragraph 2 above—

(a)the rating authority, in making and levying any rate for a rate period to which the notification relates, shall include the relevant supplier as the occupier of a hereditament of that rateable value ; and

(b)the valuation officer, at or as soon as may be after the beginning of the year consisting of any such rate period, shall cause such alterations (if any) to be made in the valuation list as may be requisite for showing the relevant supplier in the list as the occupier of a hereditament of that rateable value, and if any such alteration is made after the beginning of the year, it shall be treated as having been made at the beginning of the year.

(2)If the year referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b) above is a year beginning with the date on which a new valuation list comes into force, that sub-paragraph shall not apply, but the valuation officer shall include the relevant supplier in the list as the occupier of a hereditament of the said rateable value.

5For the purposes of section 33(2)(e) of this Act, paragraph 8 of Schedule 5 to this Act shall have effect as if for any reference therein to section 32(2)(b) of this Act there were substituted a reference to the said section 33(2)(e), and as if it provided for the determination of any such question as is mentioned in subparagraph (3) or (4) thereof by the Secretary of State for Energy.

6Before making any such order under section 33(5) or (7) of this Act, the Secretary of State shall consult with the relevant supplier, with such associations of local authorities as appear to him to be concerned, and with any local authority with whom consultation appears to him to be desirable ; and any such order—

(a)may contain such incidental, supplemental and consequential provisions, including any provisions altering any enactment or instrument, as the Secretary of State considers expedient for the purposes of the order ; and

(b)shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.”