{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/contracts-for-difference-electricity-supplier-obligations-amendment-coronavirus-regulations-2020/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/contracts-for-difference-electricity-supplier-obligations-amendment-coronavirus-regulations-2020/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2020/709",
  "legislation_title": "The Contracts for Difference (Electricity Supplier Obligations) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/contracts-for-difference-electricity-supplier-obligations-amendment-coronavirus-regulations-2020",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations)\nThese Regulations amend the Contracts for Difference (Electricity Supplier Obligations) Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/2014) (the “2014 Regulations”) which impose obligations on persons who supply electricity in Great Britain. CFD (Contracts for Difference) are contracts which the CFD counterparty, a person designated as such under section 7 of the Energy Act 2013, must enter into by virtue of section 10 or 14 of that Act. Under the terms of the CFD, the CFD counterparty must make payments to eligible generators who have secured a CFD (see the Contracts for Difference (Definition of Eligible Generator) Regulations 2014 (S.I 2014/2010) which define eligible generators). The payments made to such eligible generators are funded from payments made to the CFD counterparty by electricity suppliers under the 2014 Regulations.\nThese Regulations are made in response to a combination of lower electricity demand (resulting from measures introduced to reduce the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)), and higher payments to CFD eligible generators (because of lower wholesale electricity prices) that mean electricity suppliers would face an increase in payments due under the 2014 Regulations.\nRegulation 2 of these Regulations amends the 2014 Regulations to include financial assistance provided by the Secretary of State under the Energy Act 2013 in the calculation of certain payments to be made by the CFD counterparty and some payments to the CFD counterparty by electricity suppliers.\nThe calculation of an electricity supplier’s “CFD quarterly contribution” under regulation 5 of the 2014 Regulations is amended so that it is reduced by the amount of any financial assistance provided in any particular quarterly obligation period, and so that it is subsequently increased by the amount of that financial assistance four quarterly periods later.\nRegulation 2 amends regulation 7 of the 2014 Regulations to allow the CFD counterparty to have regard to any financial assistance specified by the Secretary of State to be available for the calculation of the “interim levy rate” and/or in an in-period adjustment of the interim levy rate. The interim levy rate is intended to provide funds to the CFD counterparty to enable it to pay CFD generators.\nRegulations 10, 14 and 14A of the 2014 Regulations are amended so that the CFD counterparty may have regard to any financial assistance specified by the Secretary of State to be available when determining the “total reserve amount” (the amount under regulation 10 to be paid to the CFD counterparty in respect of a quarterly obligation period in order to ensure the CFD counterparty can meet all the payments it might have to make under CFDs), the “additional total reserve amount” (under regulation 14) and the “reduced total reserve amount” (under regulation 14A) in respect of a quarterly obligation period.\nRegulation 32 of the 2014 Regulations is also amended to permit the CFD counterparty to repay the financial assistance provided by the Secretary of State from payments made to it by electricity suppliers.\nA full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/709/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T22:28:23.207858+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}