Regulation 2 General interpretationI1

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^f1;

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

• F1“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^f2;

• “gas meter” means a meter which conforms to the requirements of section 17(1)^f3 of the Gas Act;

• F2“individual standard of performance” means one of the standards of performance a supplier is required to meet under regulations 3 to 6D;

• F3“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^f4;

• F4“new supplier” means a supplier who has F5, 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;

• F6“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;

• F7“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;

• F8“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;

• F9“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—

  1. (a)

     that has been entered into by the customer;

  2. (b)

     that relates to the premises for which the transfer has been made; and

  3. (c)

     for 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^f5; and

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

For the purposes of these Regulations—