Explanatory note

This Order re-enacts the Electricity (Class Exemptions from the Requirement for a Licence) (No. 2) Order 1995 with amendments. It grants exemption from the requirements of section 4(1)(a) of the Electricity Act 1989 (the “Act”) (which prohibits the generation of electricity without a licence) and section 4(1)(c) of the Act (which prohibits the supply of electricity to premises without a licence) to persons of various classes. The classes of persons who are exempt from the requirement to hold a licence to generate electricity are set out in Schedule 2 and the classes of persons who are exempt from the requirement to hold a licence to supply electricity to premises are set out in Schedule 3.

In addition to minor and drafting amendments, this Order makes the following changes of substance:

• the exemption granted to persons falling within Class A in Schedule 3 is extended to cover electricity supplied to them by the holder of a licence under section 6(2) of the Act (a “second-tier supplier”);

• the limitations on the exemption granted to persons falling within Class B in Schedule 3 are removed to the extent that those persons are supplying electricity which has been supplied to them by a second-tier supplier;

• the requirement in Class B in Schedule 3 for Class C electricity not to be resold to premises taking more than 100 kilowatts has been removed; and

• the exemption granted to persons falling within Class C in Schedule 3 is extended to allow supply to several consumers on-site who are not connected to each other and to consumers off-site who are supplied over private wires, in each case subject to a total maximum amount of electricity of 100 megawatts, of which not more than one megawatt can be supplied to domestic consumers.