{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/energy-act-2004-assistance-for-areas-with-high-distribution-costs-amendment-order-2020/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/energy-act-2004-assistance-for-areas-with-high-distribution-costs-amendment-order-2020/note.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2020/146",
  "legislation_title": "The Energy Act 2004 (Assistance for Areas with High Distribution Costs) (Amendment) Order 2020",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/energy-act-2004-assistance-for-areas-with-high-distribution-costs-amendment-order-2020",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Order)\nThe Energy Act 2004 (Assistance for Areas with High Distribution Costs) Order 2005 (“the 2005 Order”) established the Hydro Benefit Replacement Scheme (“HBRS”) for Great Britain. The HBRS is a scheme for offsetting the costs of distributing electricity in a specified area of Northern Scotland (“the specified area”), and is implemented by way of modifications to the conditions of licences issued to electricity transmitters (in effect, only the operator of the electricity transmission system for Great Britain), electricity suppliers, and electricity distributors in the specified area (in effect, only the one electricity distributor operating in the specified area).\nModifications to the licence conditions of electricity transmitters made by the 2005 Order include requirements to calculate the amount of assistance (“the assistance amount”) to be passed to electricity distributors in the specified area in each year, and the annual contribution to the assistance amount to be made by every licensed electricity supplier in Great Britain. Modifications to the licence conditions of electricity suppliers made by the 2005 Order include a requirement to pay that annual contribution.\nThis Order amends the 2005 Order to provide for a second amount (“the Shetland assistance amount”) to be passed under the HBRS to the electricity distributor in the specified area. The Shetland assistance amount represents the cost of cross-subsidising electricity distribution for the Shetland Islands local authority region, within the specified area.\nThis Order makes modifications to the licence conditions of electricity transmitters, in relation to the scheme year beginning on 1st April 2021 and subsequent years, to impose requirements to calculate the Shetland assistance amount, and to calculate the annual contribution to the Shetland assistance amount to be made by every licensed electricity supplier in Great Britain. Modifications to the licence conditions of electricity suppliers made by this Order include a requirement to pay that annual contribution.\nNo impact assessment has been produced for this instrument. A full impact assessment of the effect that the 2005 Order will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Electricity Systems team, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET or from www.gov.uk/beis.\nThe licences modified by this Order may be inspected at the Registry of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 4PU9.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/146/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T22:33:34.747509+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."
}