The Electricity and Gas (Standards of Performance) (Suppliers) Regulations 2015

Made: 11th July 2015

Coming into force: 1st January 2016

The Secretary of State has consented to the making of these Regulations in accordance with sections 33A(2), 33AA(2) and 33AB(5) of the Gas Act and sections 39(1), 39A(1) and 39B(5) of the Electricity Act.

Citation, commencement, transitional and savings provisions

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• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Electricity and Gas (Standards of Performance) (Suppliers) Regulations 2015 and come into force on 1st January 2016.

• (2) These Regulations are subject to the following transitional provisions—

• (a) regulation 3 (appointments) does not apply to any request for an appointment which is made before 1st January 2016;

• (b) regulations 4 and 5 (faulty meters and faulty prepayment meters) do not apply to any notification of a kind described in regulation 4(1) or 5(1) which is made before 1st January 2016;

• (c) regulation 6 (reconnection) does not apply to any arrangements made between a customer and supplier in relation to reconnection where these arrangements are made before 1st January 2016;

• (d) regulation 8 (suppliers’ payment obligations) does not apply to any payment which is received by a supplier from an electricity distributor or a gas transporter for onward transmission to the supplier’s customer before 1st January 2016; and

• (e) the Schedule (standards of performance – practice and procedure for determinations) does not apply in respect of any dispute which is referred to the Authority before 1st January 2016.

• (3) Where paragraph (2)(a), (b), (d) or (e) applies, the Electricity (Standards of Performance) Regulations 2015[^f00006] or the Gas (Standards of Performance) Regulations 2005[^f00007] continue to apply, as applicable, as if they had not been amended by these Regulations.

• (4) Where paragraph (2)(c) applies—

• (a) service 4 of the standards of overall performance determined by the Authority in December 2001 under section 33B[^f00008] of the Gas Act; or

• (b) service 2 of the standards of overall performance determined by the Authority in September 2002 under section 40 of the Electricity Act,

continues to apply, as applicable.

• (5) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(d), “customer” has the meaning given in regulation 7(2).

General interpretation

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• (1) In these Regulations—

• “additional standard payment” has the meaning given in regulation 8(3);

• “customer” means, except where otherwise provided for in these Regulations, domestic customer;

• “distributed payment” has the meaning given in regulation 7(2);

• “domestic customer” means a natural person supplied or requiring to be supplied with gas or electricity at domestic premises (but excluding such person insofar as they are supplied or require to be supplied with gas or electricity at premises other than domestic premises);

• “domestic premises” means premises at which a supply of gas or electricity is taken or to be taken wholly or mainly for domestic purposes;

• “Electricity Act” means the Electricity Act 1989[^f00009];

• “electricity meter” means a meter which conforms to the requirements of paragraph 2 of Schedule 7 to the Electricity Act;

• “first-time smart meter appointment” means the first appointment where a supplier is to attend for the purpose of installing a smart meter at a customer’s premises;

• “Gas Act” means the Gas Act 1986[^f00010];

• “gas meter” means a meter which conforms to the requirements of section 17(1)[^f00011] of the Gas Act;

• “individual standard of performance” means one of the standards of performance a supplier is required to meet under regulations 3 to 6D;

• “in-home display” means a device which is associated with or ancillary to a smart meter in a customer’s premises that is designed to display accurate real-time information about that customer’s energy consumption including tariff or expenditure information;

• “make a payment” includes crediting the account of a customer for charges incurred or to be incurred in respect of the supply of gas or electricity;

• “meter” means a gas meter or an electricity meter;

• “micro-business customer” means a customer (other than a domestic customer), which is a “relevant consumer” (in respect of premises other than domestic premises) for the purposes of article 2(1) of the Gas and Electricity Regulated Providers (Redress Scheme) Order 2008[^f00012];

• “new supplier” means a supplier who has , or will have, responsibility for the supply of electricity or gas to the customer after the transfer of the customer from the old supplier to the new supplier;

• “old supplier” means a supplier who had responsibility for the supply of electricity or gas to the customer prior to the transfer of the customer to the new supplier;

• “prepayment meter” means any meter operating in a mode that requires a customer to pay for the consumption of gas or electricity through that meter in advance of that consumption;

• “Smart Energy Code” means the document of that title required to be maintained and in force pursuant to a smart meter communication licence;

• “smart meter” means an electricity meter or a gas meter that meets the minimum requirements of any version of the gas smart metering equipment (GSME) technical specifications or electricity smart metering equipment (ESME) technical specifications that are contained within Schedule 9 of the Smart Energy Code, as modified from time to time in accordance with the Secretary of State’s power under section 88(1)(e) of the Energy Act 2008 or through the process outlined in section D of the Smart Energy Code;

• “smart meter communication service” means a service provided by a person under a licence granted by the Authority under section 7AB(1) of the Gas Act and section 6(1)(f) of the Electricity Act, or by the Secretary of State under section 7AB(2) of the Gas Act and section 6(1A) of the Electricity Act (“a smart meter communication licence”);

• “standard payment” has the meaning given in regulation 8(2);

• “supplier” means a gas supplier or an electricity supplier;

• “supplier transfer” means in relation to any domestic premises at which a supplier is supplying gas or electricity, the transfer of responsibility for the supply of gas or electricity to a new supplier;

• “last resort supply direction” means a direction given by the Authority to a supplier to take over responsibility for the supply of electricity or gas to customers of a failed supplier;

• “valid contract” means a contract for the supply of electricity or gas by the supplier to the customer—that has been entered into by the customer;that relates to the premises for which the transfer has been made; andfor which the notice of cancellation of that contract has not been received by the new supplier in accordance with any relevant contractual term or applicable statutory provision;

• “working day” means any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day that is a bank holiday within the meaning of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971[^f00013]; and

• “working hours” means the period between 8am and 8pm on a working day and between 9am and 5pm on any other day.

• (2) For the purposes of these Regulations—

• (a) where more than one person is a customer (however defined for the purposes of any provision of these Regulations to which this paragraph applies) in respect of a particular premises by virtue of receiving a shared supply of gas or electricity through a shared meter, the supplier discharges its obligations in respect of all of those customers, so far as those obligations arise in relation to those premises, by fulfilling its obligations to any one of those customers; and

• (b) any reference to a customer (however defined for the purposes of any provision of these Regulations to which this paragraph applies) includes any person who the supplier reasonably believes has authority to represent the customer (except where the reference to a customer relates to the entitlement to any payment due from a supplier under these Regulations).

Appointments

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• (1) This regulation applies where—

• (a) a customer requests that their supplier visits the customer’s premises, or a supplier requests permission to visit their customer’s premises;

• (b) the visit is in connection with activities that the supplier is required or authorised to carry out under its licence; and

• (c) the visit either requires access to the customer’s premises to be afforded to the supplier’s representative, or is a visit for which it would otherwise be reasonable to expect the customer to be present.

• (1A) This regulation does not apply where the request in paragraph (1) is for a first-time smart meter appointment; and—

• (a) a supplier reasonably concludes that it would not be possible to successfully install a smart meter at the customer’s premises;

• (b) a supplier reasonably concludes that they would not receive remote meter readings from the smart meter, either using the means provided by a smart meter communication service or otherwise; or

• (c) the customer has, on or after 23rd February 2026, actively refused one or more offers of a first-time smart meter appointment or prevented access to their premises for the purpose of a first-time smart meter appointment.

• (2) Where this regulation applies, the requirements on the supplier set out in paragraphs (3), (5), (7), (8) and (9) are each an individual standard of performance.

• (3) The supplier must within a reasonable time offer the customer an appointment that—

• (a) is on a date that is itself within a reasonable time; and

• (b) takes place within a specified period of time that is—

• (i) no more than 4 hours long; and

• (ii) during working hours.

• (4) Subject to paragraph (4A), in paragraph (3), reference to “within a reasonable time” means within a reasonable time of—

• (a) a request made by the supplier or the customer under paragraph (1)(a); or

• (b) a request to rearrange the appointment by the customer or the supplier.

• (4A) Where the appointment is for a first-time smart meter appointment, reference to “within a reasonable time” in paragraph (3)(a) means on a date that is within the period of 30 working days, or 60 working days for micro-business customers, beginning with—

• (a) the date on which the customer requests the appointment; or

• (b) the date on which the supplier or the customer requests to rearrange the appointment.

• (4B) Paragraph (4A)(a) applies where the request is made on or after 23rd February 2026.

• (4C) Paragraph (4A)(b) applies where the request to rearrange the appointment is made on or after 23rd February 2026.

• (5) Subject to paragraph (6), where a supplier is required to offer a customer an appointment under this regulation and the customer requests that the appointment takes place on a particular date and time, the supplier must not unreasonably withhold agreement to that request.

• (6) The supplier is not obliged to agree to an appointment under paragraph (5) that is to take place within a specified period of time that is—

• (a) less than 2 hours long; or

• (b) not during working hours.

• (7) A supplier must not rearrange an appointment less than 1 working day prior to the date of the appointment without—

• (a) obtaining the express agreement of the customer to the rearrangement; and

• (b) retaining a written record of the basis of the customer’s agreement to the rearrangement.

• (8) The supplier must keep an appointment offered in accordance with paragraph (3) and accepted by the customer, or agreed in accordance with paragraph (5) subject to—

• (a) any cancellation or requested rearrangement by the customer; or

• (b) any rearrangement by the supplier (and any such rearrangement must be in accordance with paragraph (7) where it occurs less than 1 working day prior to the date of the appointment).

• (9) In keeping the appointment in accordance with paragraph (8), including where the supplier attends an appointment for the purpose of installing a smart meter, the supplier must ensure that whoever represents it for that purpose possesses the necessary skills, experience and resources to fulfil the purpose of the appointment as the supplier reasonably understands it.

• (10) In this regulation, “customer” includes micro-business customer.

Faulty meters

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• (1) This regulation applies where—

• (a) a customer notifies their supplier that the customer considers that a meter, through which the customer receives a supply of gas or electricity from the supplier, is operating outside the margins of error; or

• (b) a customer notifies their supplier of matters relating to a meter, through which the customer receives a supply of gas or electricity from the supplier, that the supplier ought reasonably to expect to mean that the meter is operating outside the margins of error.

• (2) This regulation does not apply where the meter through which the customer receives the supply of gas or electricity is a prepayment meter.

• (3) Where this regulation applies, the requirements on the supplier set out in paragraph (4)(a), (b) and (c) are each an individual standard of performance.

• (4) Within 5 working days of receiving a notification under paragraph (1)(a) or (b), the supplier must—

• (a) complete an initial assessment of whether the meter is operating outside the margins of error;

• (b) take an appropriate action; and

• (c) offer to confirm, in writing—

• (i) the nature and outcome of that initial assessment and that appropriate action; and

• (ii) the actions which the supplier will take to ensure that the customer is receiving the supply referred to in paragraph (1) through a meter operating within the margins of error and the timescale within which those actions will occur.

• (5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)—

• (a) where—

• (i) the supplier has advised a customer of a particular postal address that is appropriate for receipt of the information described in paragraph (1)(a) or (b); and

• (ii) the customer notifies the supplier of that information by post alone,

the information is to be treated as received by the supplier when it is received at that particular postal address; and

• (b) where notification is given to the supplier outside working hours, the period of time within which the individual standard of performance must be completed begins to run at the commencement of the next following period of working hours.

• (6) In this regulation—

• “appropriate action” means action which will assist the supplier to—identify the cause of the customer’s meter operating outside the margins of error; orensure that the customer is receiving the supply referred to in paragraph (1) through a meter operating within the margins of error;

• “margins of error” means—in relation to a gas meter, the standards or margins of error prescribed in the Gas (Meters) Regulations 1983[^f00014] or the Measuring Instruments (Gas Meters) Regulations 2006[^f00015], as applicable; orin relation to an electricity meter, the prescribed margins of error or the agreed margins of error as defined by paragraph 13 of Schedule 7 to the Electricity Act or regulation 28(2)(b) of, and paragraph 15 of Schedule 1 to, the Measuring Instruments (Active Electrical Energy Meters) Regulations 2006[^f00016], as applicable; ...

• ...

Faulty prepayment meters

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• (1) This regulation applies where—

• (a) a customer notifies their supplier that the customer considers that a prepayment meter, through which the customer receives a supply of gas or electricity from the supplier, is faulty; or

• (b) a customer notifies their supplier of matters relating to a prepayment meter, through which the customer receives a supply of gas or electricity from the supplier, that the supplier ought reasonably to expect to mean that the meter is faulty.

• (2) Where this regulation applies, the individual standards of performance are—

• (a) the requirement on the supplier set out in paragraphs (3) and (4); and

• (b) the requirement on the supplier set out in paragraph (5).

• (3) Where paragraph (1) applies and the customer has lost supply of gas or electricity from the meter, the supplier must take either of the steps set out in paragraph (4) within—

• (a) 3 hours on a working day; or

• (b) 4 hours on any other day,

of receiving a notification under paragraph (1).

• (4) The supplier must—

• (a) arrive at the customer’s premises to commence such work as appears necessary to ensure that the supply of gas or electricity is restored to the customer; or

• (b) where the supply of gas or electricity can be restored without a visit by the supplier to the customer’s premises, commence such work as appears necessary to ensure that the supply of gas or electricity is restored to the customer.

• (5) Where paragraph (1) applies and the customer has not lost supply of gas or electricity from the meter, the supplier must take an appropriate action within—

• (a) 3 hours on a working day; or

• (b) 4 hours on any other day,

of receiving a notification under paragraph (1).

• (6) For the purposes of paragraphs (3) and (5)—

• (a) where—

• (i) the supplier has advised a customer of a particular postal address that is appropriate for receipt of the information described in paragraph (1)(a) or (b); and

• (ii) the customer notifies the supplier of that information by post alone,

the information is to be treated as received by the supplier when it is received at that particular postal address; and

• (b) where notification is given to the supplier outside working hours, the period of time within which the individual standard of performance must be completed begins to run at the commencement of the next following period of working hours.

• (7) In this regulation—