The Green Gas Support Scheme Regulations 2021

Part 7 requires scheme suppliers to lodge levy credit payments, or provide letters of credit, and to make quarterly levy payments in arrears. It provides for the Secretary of State to calculate a levy rate each year, based on factors including the projected scheme expenditure on periodic support payments for that year, and sets out the mechanism by which the Authority calculates the quarterly levy payments of each scheme supplier, based on the number of meter points served by them.

Part 8 (additional obligations on scheme suppliers) sets out the obligations on scheme suppliers to provide information to the Authority, including information about the number of meter points served by them.

Part 9 (changes affecting scheme suppliers) provides that, where a scheme supplier was a provisionally exempt supplier in relation to a year but is not subsequently determined to be an exempt supplier in relation to that year, they are required to make a backdated levy payment in relation to that year. It provides that where a supplier is confirmed to be an exempt supplier in relation to a year, but had not been a provisionally exempt supplier in relation to that year, the Authority must make a refund payment to them in relation to that year. And it provides for a scheme supplier to cease to be a scheme supplier (other than by virtue of being a provisionally exempt or exempt supplier) and for the payment to the Authority, or to the former scheme supplier, of any sums due as a result.

Part 10 (compliance and enforcement: scheme suppliers) provides for the Authority to serve enforcement notices where it is satisfied that a scheme supplier has failed to make payments under the Regulations, to recover sums due together with interest. It makes provision for the Authority to draw down a scheme supplier’s credit cover to settle the amount outstanding. And, where the amount of a scheme supplier’s credit cover is insufficient to cover the amount outstanding, it provides for the Authority to carry out a mutualisation process, whereby the outstanding amount is recovered from the other scheme suppliers. It also provides for the Authority to serve penalty notices where a scheme supplier is in breach of an obligation under the Regulations, and for unpaid amounts to be recovered as a civil debt. It provides for the Authority to maintain a public register of suppliers’ default, and for scheme suppliers to appeal to the High Court in England and Wales, and the Court of Session in Scotland, against the imposition of an enforcement notice or a penalty notice.

Part 11 (administrative functions of the Authority) enables any applicant, participant or former participant to apply to the Authority for a review of any decision affecting them. It requires/enables the Authority to publish guidance in relation to the administration of the Scheme, and requires the Authority to report on the operation of the Scheme to the Secretary of State.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy at 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET and is published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.

Footnotes

Editorial notes

De minimis

43A

• (1) A “de minimis amount” means—

• (a) an amount payable under these Regulations, or

• (b) a scheme supplier’s credit cover requirement for a quarter under regulation 41,

which does not exceed the amount specified by the Secretary of State (the “de minimis threshold”) for the scheme year in which the amount becomes payable or the quarter referred to in sub-paragraph (b) falls.

• (2) Where but for this paragraph an amount payable or a credit cover requirement under the following regulations would be a de minimis amount, no amount is payable or the credit cover requirement is £0 (as applicable)—

• (a) regulation 40(1),

• (b) regulation 41(1) or (2)(b),

• (c) regulation 44(1),

• (d) regulation 45(2)(a),

• (e) regulation 49(2),

• (f) regulation 51(8), (9), (9A)(a) or (b),

• (g) regulation 56(7),

• (h) regulation 56(10).

• (3) For the purposes of determining under paragraph (2) whether an amount otherwise payable under a regulation would be a de minimis amount—

• (a) the amount payable to a scheme supplier under regulation 44(1) is deemed to be the sum of the amounts payable to the supplier under regulation 44(1) and regulation 45(2)(a),

• (b) the amount payable to a supplier under regulation 45(2)(a) is deemed to be the sum of the amounts payable to the supplier under regulation 44(1) and regulation 45(2)(a),

• (c) the amount payable to a former scheme supplier under regulation 51(9) is deemed to be the sum of the amounts payable to the supplier under regulation 51(9) and 51(9A)(a),

• (d) the amount payable to a former scheme supplier under regulation 51(9A)(a) is deemed to be the sum of the amounts payable to the supplier under regulation 51(9) and 51(9A)(a).

• (4) Any sum which but for paragraph (2)(f) would have been paid by the Authority to a former scheme supplier must be treated by the Authority as if it had been paid to the Authority by the supplier in respect of a final quarterly levy payment.

• (5) Where paragraph (2) applies in respect of an amount otherwise payable or a scheme supplier’s credit cover requirement and but for this paragraph the Authority would be required to make a notification under the following regulations in respect of the amount or the credit cover requirement, the requirement to make a notification does not apply—

• (a) regulation 40(2),

• (b) except where regulation 42(5) applies, regulation 42(1),

• (c) regulation 49(2),

• (d) regulation 56(5)(b).

• (6) Where paragraph (5) applies, the Authority may make such alternative notification as it considers appropriate.

• (7) The Secretary of State must by notice publish the de minimis threshold for the scheme year beginning with 1st April 2024 and each subsequent scheme year.

• (8) The de minimis threshold for a scheme year must not be more than the amount calculated in accordance with paragraph (9) (the “de minimis maximum”).

• (9) The de minimis maximum for a scheme year is £200, adjusted by the percentage increase or decrease in the consumer prices index for the period beginning with 1st January 2024 and ending with 31st October immediately preceding the scheme year.

• (10) A notice under paragraph (7) must be published by—

• (a) in relation to the de minimis threshold for the scheme year beginning with 1st April 2024, the later of the date falling 14 days after the Green Gas Support Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2023 come into force and 31st December 2023,

• (b) in relation to the de minimis threshold for the scheme year beginning with 1st April 2025 and each subsequent scheme year, 31st December in the preceding scheme year.

Registration of eligible heat pumps

8A

• (1) An applicant or participant who is using an air source heat pump, or a ground source heat pump in the production of biomethane, may apply to the Authority to have that heat pump registered as an eligible heat pump.

• (2) An application for registration under paragraph (1) must be in writing and supported by—

• (a) such of the information specified in Schedule 1A (information required for registration of an eligible heat pump) as the Authority may require,

• (b) a declaration that no grant from public funds has been paid, or will be paid, in respect of any costs of the purchase, installation, or operation of the heat pump, and

• (c) a declaration that the information provided by the applicant or participant is accurate to the best of the applicant’s or participant’s knowledge and belief.

• (3) Upon receiving an application under paragraph (1) the Authority must—

• (a) determine whether the heat pump meets the criteria for an eligible heat pump,

• (b) if satisfied that the heat pump does meet the criteria for an eligible heat pump, register that heat pump as an eligible heat pump, and

• (c) notify the applicant or participant (as appropriate), in writing, of the Authority’s determination.

• (4) Where the Authority determines that the heat pump does not meet the criteria to be registered as an eligible heat pump, it must provide reasons for the Authority’s determination.

• (5) A deduction for heat derived from an eligible heat pump under regulation 27(2)(c)(i) and 27(2)(d), and electricity supplied to an eligible heat pump under regulation 27(2)(e) cannot be applied before the date of receipt by the Authority of the application under paragraph (1) in which, in the Authority’s opinion, all the information required in respect of that application has been provided.

• (6) The Authority may review a registration of an eligible heat pump, and where the Authority determines that a heat pump that is registered as an eligible heat pump—

• (a) did not meet the criteria for an eligible heat pump at the time of the Authority’s determination under paragraph (3), or

• (b) no longer meets the criteria for an eligible heat pump,

the Authority must remove the registration of that heat pump as an eligible heat pump.

• (7) Where the Authority makes a determination under paragraph (6), it must notify the participant in writing within 28 days of making the determination, and it must provide reasons for the Authority’s determination.

• (8) In this regulation—

• “eligible heat pump” means an air source heat pump, or a ground source heat pump (which may or may not use a shared ground loop system), or both, that—was first commissioned on or after 1 April 2023,is fitted with an electricity meter capable of measuring the electricity supplied to the heat pump,has been granted necessary planning permission,has not had a grant from public funds paid in respect of any of the costs of the purchase, installation, or operation of the heat pump, andis not powered by, or does not derive heat from a fossil fuel, gas or oil boiler;

• “grant from public funds” means a grant made by a public authority or by any person distributing funds on behalf of a public authority, except for a grant that offers a discount on the unit price of electricity.

SCHEDULE 1A — Information required for registration of an eligible heat pump

1

This schedule specifies the information that the Authority may require of an applicant or participant to determine whether a heat pump is an eligible heat pump.

2

The information is (as applicable to the applicant or participant)—

• (a) the heat pump manufacturer and model,

• (b) the commissioning date of the heat pump,

• (c) the system design of the heat pump,

• (d) the energy input and heat output of the heat pump,

• (e) installation certifications for the heat pump,

• (f) markings on schematic diagrams of the heat pump,

• (g) metering information, including any heat loss, provided in a metric as requested by the Authority,

• (h) electrical metering information,

• (i) photographs of the installation of the heat pump,

• (j) documentation expressing the coefficient of performance of a heat pump, with supporting calculations,

• (k) planning permission evidence for the heat pump, and

• (l) any further information which the Authority may require.

3

Information specified in this Schedule must be provided in such a manner and form as the Authority may reasonably request.

4

The costs of providing the information specified in this Schedule are to be borne by the applicant or participant.