Paragraph 2 I1

After paragraph 1, insert—

“Interpretation

(1A) In this Schedule—

• “authorised person” means the Secretary of State or, in relation to a Scottish heat network, the Scottish Ministers;

• “EBDS Regulations” means the Energy Bills Discount Scheme Regulations 2023;

• “intermediary’s agent” means a person who has acted or is acting as agent for a qualifying heat supplier in connection with its application for a QHS certificate under regulation 17(4) of the EBDS Regulations, or who appears to an authorised person to have acted or to be acting in that capacity;

• “QHS certificate” has the meaning given in the EBDS Regulations;

• “qualifying heat supplier” has the meaning given in the EBDS Regulations.

PART 1A

Power to request information

Application of Part

1B.

This Part applies where an authorised person has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person is—

(a)

an intermediary within the meaning of section 19(1) of the Energy Prices Act 2022; or

(b)

in connection with the power to require the production of information in paragraph 1C only, an intermediary’s agent.

Power to require the production of information

1C.

Before imposing a compliance notice on a person for failing to comply with the duty of a qualifying heat supplier to apply for a QHS certificate under regulation 17(4) of the EBDS Regulations, the authorised person may give notice to the person mentioned in paragraph 1B requiring that person to provide the authorised person with the information specified in the notice.

Procedure for notice under paragraph 1C

1D.

(1)

A notice under paragraph 1C must be in writing and must specify that the information is required—

(a)

if the notice was served in reliance upon paragraph 1B(a), to determine if the person is a qualifying heat supplier, or

(b)

if the notice was served in reliance upon paragraph 1B(b), to determine the identity of the qualifying heat supplier for whom that person is an intermediary’s agent.

(2)

The notice may specify—

(a)

the time within which and the manner in which the person to whom it is given must comply with it; and

(b)

the form in which information must be provided.

(3)

The notice may require—

(a)

the creation of documents, or documents of a description, specified in the notice, and

(b)

the provision of those documents to the authorised person.

(4)

A requirement to provide information or create a document is a requirement to do so in a legible form.

(5)

A notice under paragraph 1C does not require a person to provide any information or create any documents which the person would be entitled to refuse to provide or produce—

(a)

in proceedings in the High Court on the grounds of legal professional privilege, or

(b)

in proceedings in the Court of Session on the grounds of confidentiality of communications.

(6)

In sub-paragraph (5)(b), “communications” means—

(a)

communications between a professional legal adviser and the adviser’s client, or

(b)

communications made in connection with or in contemplation of legal proceedings or for the purposes of those proceedings.

Enforcement of requirement in paragraph 1C

1E.

A person who does not comply with the requirement to provide the authorised person with the information specified in a notice under paragraph 1C is subject to civil enforcement action under this Schedule.”