The Warm Home Discount (Scotland) Regulations 2022

• “member of the work-related activity group” means a person who has or is treated as having limited capability for work under Part 5 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008³⁶ other than by virtue of regulation 30 of those Regulations;

• “parental responsibilities” has the meaning given in section 1(3) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995³⁷;

• “qualifying component” means— child tax credit which includes a disability element; a disabled child premium; a disability premium, enhanced disability premium or severe disability premium; a pensioner premium or higher pensioner premium, and for the purposes of this definition, “disability premium”, “enhanced disability premium”, “severe disability premium”, “pensioner premium” and “higher pensioner premium” mean a premium of that name specified in the relevant legislation;

• “relevant annual amount” means— for scheme year 12, £17,005; for each subsequent scheme year, the relevant annual amount for the preceding scheme year increased or, as the case may be, decreased, by the percentage increase or decrease in the consumer prices index over the 12 month period ending with the 30th September in the preceding scheme year (the resulting figure being rounded upwards to the nearest £1);

• “relevant assessment period” means an assessment period beginning on a date no earlier than 6 months before the date on which the scheme year starts, where “assessment period” has the meaning given in regulation 21 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013³⁸;

• “relevant legislation” means— Parts 3 and 4 of Schedule 2 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987³⁹; Parts 2 and 3 of Schedule 4 to the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008⁴⁰; Parts 3 to 4B of Schedule 1 to the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations 1996⁴¹; Parts 3 and 4 of Schedule 3 to the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006⁴²; Parts 3 and 4 of Schedule 3 to the Housing Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state pension credit) Regulations 2006⁴³;

• “relevant periodic amount” means one twelfth of the relevant annual amount for the scheme year (rounded upwards to the nearest £1);

• “universal credit” has the meaning given in section 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012⁴⁴.

SCHEDULE 3 — Industry initiatives

PART 1 — Table of industry initiatives

A supplier may not count costs arising from the carrying out of repairs to a boiler or central heating system unless the repairs meet the requirements of Part 2.

PART 2 — Installation and repair requirements for boilers and central heating systems

Boilers

1

• (1) The installation of a boiler meets, or repairs to a boiler meet, the requirements of this Part if the conditions in sub-paragraph (2) or (3) are satisfied.

• (2) The conditions in this sub-paragraph are—

• (a) the boiler is—

• (i) installed by, or under the responsibility of, a person who is registered with TrustMark for the purposes of installing boilers; or

• (ii) repaired by, or under the responsibility of, a person who is registered with TrustMark for the purposes of repairing boilers; and

• (b) a certificate of lodgement is issued by the operator of TrustMark in respect of the installation or repairs.

• (3) The conditions in this sub-paragraph are that the boiler is installed, or repaired, subject to arrangements for quality assurance and consumer protection, including installation standards and arrangements for repairs and other remedies, which are equivalent to the requirements under TrustMark.

Central heating systems

2

• (1) The installation of a central heating system meets, or repairs to such a system meet, the requirements of this Part if the conditions in sub-paragraph (2) or (3) are satisfied.

• (2) The conditions in this sub-paragraph are—

• (a) the system is—

• (i) installed by, or under the responsibility of, a person who is registered with TrustMark for the purposes of installing central heating systems; or

• (ii) repaired by, or under the responsibility of, a person who is registered with TrustMark for the purposes of repairing central heating systems; and

• (b) a certificate of lodgement is issued by the operator of TrustMark in respect of the installation or repairs.

• (3) The conditions in this sub-paragraph are that the central heating system is installed, or repaired, subject to arrangements for quality assurance and consumer protection, including installation standards and arrangements for repairs and other remedies, which are equivalent to the requirements under TrustMark.

PART 3 — Interpretation

Interpretation

3

• (1) In this Schedule—

• “certificate of lodgement” means a document entitled “TrustMark Certificate of Lodgement” which sets out the address at which a measure has been installed or repaired and the type of measure;

• “mains gas” means a supply of a kind mentioned in section 5(1)(b) of the Gas Act 1986⁴⁶;

• “TrustMark” means the scheme of that name operated by TrustMark (2005) Limited, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 05480144.

• (2) For the purposes of this Schedule—

• (a) the occupier of a mobile home is an eligible occupier if they are, or their partner is, in receipt of guarantee credit; and

• (b) premises are non-gas fuelled if the main space heating system is not—

• (i) fuelled by mains gas; or

• (ii) a district heating system.

• (3) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2)—

• (a) “mobile home” and “occupier” have the meanings given by the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (see sections 1 and 5 of that Act⁴⁷);

• (b) “district heating system” means a system which delivers heat through pipes or conduits to two or more domestic premises.

Signed

Callanan — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State — Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy — 13th October 2022

We consent

David Evennett — Sarah Dines — Two of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury — 19th October 2022

The Scottish Ministers consent to the making of these Regulations

Patrick Harvie — A member of the Scottish Government — 14th October 2022

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations provide for the continuation in Scotland of the scheme to reduce fuel poverty established by the Warm Home Discount Regulations 2011 (“the Scheme”). These Regulations re-enact with amendments the provisions made by those Regulations to continue the Scheme in Scotland until 31st March 2026. The Scheme will continue to be administered and enforced by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (“the Authority”).

The Scheme continues to place obligations on electricity suppliers (“compulsory scheme electricity suppliers”) who have, or are part of a group of electricity or gas supply companies which has, at least the specified number of domestic customers to incur spending in each scheme year on the provision of benefits to customers in or at risk of fuel poverty. For the scheme year which begins when these Regulations come into force, the specified number of domestic customers is 50,000, and for later scheme years it is 1,000. “Scheme year” is defined in regulation 3 of the Regulations.

Part 3 requires compulsory scheme electricity suppliers, and other electricity suppliers who opt into this Part, to provide rebates of £150 to customers specified by the Secretary of State (“core group customers”). A person can only be specified as a core group customer if the person appears to the Secretary of State—

• (a) to be the owner or occupier of domestic premises in Scotland at which the person is supplied with electricity or gas wholly or mainly for domestic purposes;

• (b) to occupy those premises as their sole or main residence; and

• (c) to be, or, where the person lives with their partner, to be the partner of a person, in receipt of state pension credit guarantee credit.

Specific provision is made to enable persons who would ordinarily occupy premises as their sole or main residence but are in hospital, a care home or a hospice temporarily to be treated as continuing to occupy the relevant premises (see regulation 2 of the Regulations).

Part 4 requires compulsory scheme electricity suppliers to incur other spending for the purposes of reducing fuel poverty. Chapter 1 provides for the calculation, and adjustment, of the amount of spending that suppliers must incur under this Part. Chapter 2 provides for the types of spending which must or may be incurred (broader group customers (Chapter 3), industry initiatives (Chapter 4) and specified activities (Chapter 5)) and the amounts which may or must be incurred on the various types of spending.

Part 5 contains supplementary provisions about procedure for matters required to be approved by the Authority, determination by the Authority of the amounts spent by suppliers, the provision of information to the Authority by suppliers and the provision of information by the Authority to the Secretary of State.

Part 6 makes provision for reviews of the Scheme by the Secretary of State.

Part 7 contains consequential provisions.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument. An analysis of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the public sector is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications. Paper copies can be obtained from the Warm Home Discount Team, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET.

Footnotes

Editorial notes

Uplift of aggregate non-core spending obligation for scheme year 15

18A

• (1) The aggregate non-core spending obligation for scheme year 15 is to be increased by £39 million (“the uplift”).

• (2) The Authority must—

• (a) recalculate each compulsory scheme electricity supplier’s non-core spending obligation for scheme year 15, to take account of the uplift, in accordance with paragraph (3); and

• (b) notify each compulsory scheme electricity supplier of its recalculated non-core spending obligation on or before the 25th working day after this regulation comes into force.

• (3) The non-core spending obligation must be recalculated by adding to the supplier’s non-core spending obligation (as adjusted in accordance with regulation 18) the amount of the uplift that is proportionate to that supplier’s scheme year 15 obligation percentage.