# The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2018, Article 3: Definition of a participant


(1) A licence-holder is a participant in relation to a phase if—
(a) the licence-holder supplies or, where the licence-holder is a member of a group, the group supplies, more than—
(i) a qualifying supply of electricity in the qualification year for that phase; and
(ii) the qualifying number of domestic customers at the end of that qualification year;
(b) the licence-holder supplies or, where the licence-holder is a member of a group, the group supplies, more than—
(i) a qualifying supply of gas in the qualification year for that phase; and
(ii) the qualifying number of domestic customers at the end of that qualification year; or
(c) in the case of phase 2, 3 or 4, the licence-holder was a participant in relation to the preceding phase.
(2) Where a dual licence-holder is a participant by virtue of paragraph (1), that licence-holder is to be treated under this Order as two participants, of which—
(a) one is a participant in respect of the supply of electricity; and
(b) the other is a participant in respect of the supply of gas.
(3) For the purposes of this article—
(a) whether or not a licence-holder is a member of a group is to be determined according to whether the licence-holder was a member of a group at the end of the qualification year; and
(b) where a licence-holder is a member of a group, the amount of electricity or gas supplied by the group in a qualification year is the amount supplied in that year by all licence-holders in the group, whether or not they were members of the group throughout that year.
(4) For the purposes of determining the number of domestic customers of a licence-holder under this Order, a domestic customer who receives electricity and gas from a dual licence-holder is a separate domestic customer under each licence.
(5) In this article—
“dual licence-holder” means a person holding a licence under section 6(1)(d) of the Electricity Act 1989 and a licence under section 7A of the Gas Act 1986;
“qualifying number” means, in relation to the end of the qualification year for—
(a) phase 1, 250,000;
(b) phase 2, 200,000;
(c) phase 3, 150,000;
(d) phase 4, 150,000.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2018/9780111171769/article/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/draft-electricity-and-gas-energy-company-obligation-order-2018/article-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.