Sustainable Energy Act, 2002

Sustainable Energy Act, 2002 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.ie) Translations (Houses of the Oireachtas) Government Publications for Sale EU Law (EUR-Lex) FAQ Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Search Baile Reachtaíocht Achtanna an Oireachtais Ionstraimí Reachtúla Reachtaíocht Réamh-1922 Bunreacht Acmhainní Seachtracha Billí (Tithe an Oireachtais) Iris Oifigiúil Achtanna Athbhreithnithe (CAD) (An Coimisiún um Athchóiriú an Dlí) Liosta Rangaithe Reachtaíochta Aistriúcháin (achtanna.ie) Aistriúcháin (Tithe an Oireachtais) Foilseacháin Rialtais ar Díol Dlí AE (EUR-Lex) CCanna (Ceisteanna Coitianta) Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach Cuardach TitleTeideal Year(s) or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 2002 Sustainable Energy Act, 2002 Sustainable Energy Act, 2002 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Revised Act Acht Athbh… Open PDFOscail PDF Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 2 of 2002 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ACT, 2002 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section

Section 1

Citation.

Section 2

Interpretation.

Section 3

Establishment day.

Section 4

Establishment of new body.

Section 5

Expenses of Minister.

Section 6

Functions of Authority.

Section 7

Power to establish subsidiaries.

Section 8

Additional functions.

Section 9

Orders.

Section 10

Board of Authority.

Section 11

Chairperson of Board of Authority.

Section 12

Meetings and procedure of Board of Authority.

Section 13

Committees of Board.

Section 14

Membership of either House of Oireachtas, European Parliament or local authority.

Section 15

Chief Executive.

Section 16

Staff.

Section 17

Superannuation of Chief Executive and staff.

Section 18

Disclosure of interests.

Section 19

Disclosure of information.

Section 20

Seal of Board.

Section 21

Transfer of property and rights and liabilities.

Section 22

Financing of Authority.

Section 23

Borrowing by the Board.

Section 24

Annual report and accounts of Authority.

Section 25

Information to Minister and Oireachtas on performance of functions.

Section 26

Power to charge fees.

Section 27

Policy Directives.

Section 28

Power to accept subscriptions and donations.

Section 29

Power to engage consultants and advisers and to enter into contracts.

Section 30

Saving for certain acts.

Section 31

Amendment of section 23 of Gas Act, 1976.

Section 32

Amendment of section 39 of Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 (Public Service Obligations).

Section 33

Insertion of Schedule 2 to Electricity Regulation Act, 1999.

SCHEDULE Acts Referred to Companies Act, 1963 1963, No. 33 Companies Acts, 1963 to 2001 Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 1999, No. 23 European Parliament Elections Act, 1997 1997, No. 2 Freedom of Information Act, 1997 1997, No. 13 Gas Act, 1976 1976, No. 30 Gas (Amendment) Act, 2000 2000, No. 26 Number 2 of 2002 SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ACT, 2002 AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A BODY TO BE KNOWN AS FUINNEAMH INMHARTHANA ÉIREANN — ÚDARÁS FUINNIMH INMHARTHANA NA hÉIREANN OR IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY IRELAND — THE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY AUTHORITY OF IRELAND; TO AMEND THE GAS ACT, 1976, TO AMEND THE ELECTRICITY REGULATION ACT, 1999, AND FOR MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. [27th February, 2002] BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

Citation.

1.—This Act may be cited as the Sustainable Energy Act, 2002.

Interpretation.

2.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “the Authority” means the body established by section 4 ; “the Board” means the Board of the Authority; “enactment” includes any instrument made under an enactment; “the establishment day” means the day appointed by the Minister under section 3 ; “functions” includes powers and duties; “the Minister” means the Minister for Public Enterprise; “superannuation benefits” means pensions, gratuities, and other allowances payable on resignation, retirement or death.

Establishment day.

3.—The Minister may, with the concurrence of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, by order appoint a day to be the establishment day for the purposes of this Act.

Establishment of new body.

4.—(1) There shall stand established, on the establishment day, a body to be known as Fuinneamh Inmharthana Éireann — Údarás Fuinnimh Inmharthana na hÉireann or in the English language Sustainable Energy Ireland — The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (in this Act referred to as the “Authority”) which shall perform the functions assigned to it by this Act.

Expenses of Minister.

5.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Functions of Authority.

6.—(1) The functions of the Authority shall be— (a) to promote and assist environmentally and economically sustainable production, supply and use of energy, (b) to promote and assist energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy, (c) to promote and assist the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and transboundary air pollutants associated with the production, supply and use of energy, (d) to promote and assist the minimising of the impact on the environment of the production, supply and use of energy, (e) to promote and assist research, development and demonstration of technologies connected with the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection, (f) to provide advice, information and guidance— (i) to the Minister and such other Ministers or bodies as the Minister may direct, and (ii) to energy suppliers and users, relating to the matters specified in the foregoing paragraphs of this subsection.

Power to establish subsidiaries.

7.—(1) The Authority may, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance, perform any of its functions through a subsidiary and, for the purpose of such performance, may acquire, form or establish one or more than one subsidiaries (within the meaning of section 155 of the Companies Act, 1963 ) and for that purpose may acquire, hold or dispose of shares or any other interest in a company or become a member of a company (within the meaning of the Companies Acts, 1963 to 2001).

Additional functions.

8.—(1) The Minister may, following consultation with the Authority, the Minister for Finance and any other Minister of the Government who, in the opinion of the Minister, is concerned, by order assign to the Authority such additional functions relating to sustainable energy, energy efficiency and renewable energy as the Minister considers appropriate.

Orders.

9.—(1) An order under this Act may contain such consequential, ancillary or subsidiary provisions as the Minister considers necessary or expedient.

Board of Authority.

10.—(1) The Board shall consist of 12 members.

Chairperson of Board of Authority.

11.—(1) Where the chairperson of the Board ceases to hold such office, he or she shall also cease to be a member of the Board.

Meetings and procedure of Board of Authority.

12.—(1) The Board shall hold such and so many meetings as may be necessary for the performance of its functions but shall hold at least one meeting in each quarter of the calendar year.

Committees of Board.

13.—(1) The Board may establish committees— (a) to assist and advise it on matters relating to any of the functions of the Authority, and (b) to exercise or perform any of its functions which in the opinion of the Board can be better and more conveniently exercised or performed by such committee and have been delegated to that committee pursuant to section 12

Membership of either House of Oireachtas, European Parliament or local authority.

14.—(1) Where a member of the Board— (a) is nominated as a member of Seanad Éireann, (b) is elected as a member of either House of the Oireachtas or as a representative in the European Parliament, (c) is regarded pursuant to Part XIII of the Second Schedule to the European Parliament Elections Act, 1997 , as having been elected to the European Parliament to fill a vacancy, or (d) becomes a member of a local authority. he or she shall thereupon cease to be a member of the Board.

Chief Executive.

15.—(1) There shall be a chief executive officer of the Authority who shall be known, and is referred to in this Act, as the “Chief Executive”.

Staff.

16.—(1) Every person who is on the day immediately preceding the establishment day a member of the staff of Forfás working in the entity within Enterprise Ireland known as The Irish Energy Centre shall on the establishment day become a member of the staff of the Authority.

Superannuation of Chief Executive and staff.

17.—(1) The Board may, with the approval of the Minister and the consent of the Minister for Finance, make a scheme or schemes for the granting of superannuation benefits to or in respect of a person appointed as Chief Executive or members of the staff of the Authority.

Disclosure of interests.

18.—(1) Where the Chief Executive, a member of the Board, a member of a committee established by virtue of section 13 , a member of the staff of the Authority, or a consultant, adviser or other person engaged by the Authority, has a pecuniary interest or other beneficial interest in or material to any matter which falls to be considered by the Board, he or she shall— (a) disclose to the Board the nature of his or her interest in advance of any consideration of the matter, (b) neither influence nor seek to influence a decision in relation to the matter, (c) take no part in any consideration of the matter, (d) if he or she is the Chief Executive, a member of the Board, or a member of a committee established by virtue of section 13 , or a member of the staff of the Authority, withdraw from the meeting for so long as the matter is being discussed or considered and shall not vote on or otherwise act as such Chief Executive or member in relation to the matter.

Disclosure of information.

19.—(1) Save as otherwise provided by law and subsection (3), a person shall not, without the consent of the Board, disclose confidential information obtained by him or her while performing (or as a result of having performed) duties as— (a) a member of the Board, (b) Chief Executive, (c) a member of the staff of the Authority, (d) a member of a committee established pursuant to section 13 , (e) an adviser or consultant to the Authority or an employee of such person whilst performing duties relating to such advice or consultation.

Seal of Board.

20.—(1) The Authority shall, as soon as may be after its establishment, provide itself with a seal.

Transfer of property and rights and liabilities.

21.—(1) With effect from the establishment day the Authority shall have a licence to occupy the property which on the day immediately before the establishment day was the property of Enterprise Ireland and occupied by The Irish Energy Centre, subject to such terms and conditions as may be agreed in writing between the Minister and Enterprise Ireland prior to the making of the order pursuant to section 3 appointing a day to be the establishment day.

Financing of Authority.

22.—(1) The Minister shall from time to time, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, advance to the Authority out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, such sums as the Minister may determine for the purposes of expenditure by the Authority in the performance of its functions.

Borrowing by the Board.

23.—The Authority may, for the purpose of providing for current or capital expenditure, from time to time, borrow money (whether on the security of the assets of the Authority or otherwise), including money in a currency other than the currency of the State, subject to the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Finance and to such conditions as they may specify.

Annual report and accounts of Authority.

24.—(1) The Authority shall submit, in such form as the Minister may direct, an annual report of its activities after the end of the financial year to which it refers and the Minister shall cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas not later than six months after the end of that financial year.

Information to Minister and Oireachtas on performance of functions.

25.—(1) The Authority shall, whenever so requested by the Minister, furnish to him or her information in relation to such matters as he or she may specify concerning or relating to the performance of its functions, or its plans for the future performance of its functions, generally or in respect of any report or account prepared by the Authority under section 24 of this Act or the policy and activities, other than day-to-day activities, of the Authority.

Power to charge fees.

26.—(1) The Authority shall have power to charge, receive and recover fees in respect of work undertaken by the Authority on behalf of any person or body other than a Minister of the Government.

Policy Directives.

27.—The Minister may give to the Authority, in writing, such general policy directives as he or she may consider appropriate to be followed by the Authority in the exercise of its functions.

Power to accept subscriptions and donations.

28.—(1) The Authority may accept subscriptions of money from any body or person in return for the use by such body or person or other bodies or persons of such services and facilities of the Authority as the Board may determine.

Power to engage consultants and advisers and to enter into contracts.

29.—The Authority may, from time to time, as it considers necessary for the performance of its functions— (a) enter into contracts with persons or bodies, and (b) engage consultants or advisers, and any sums thereby payable by the Authority to such persons, bodies, consultants or advisers shall be paid by the Authority out of moneys at its disposal.

Saving for certain acts.

30.—Nothing in this Act shall affect the validity of any act done in the name of Enterprise Ireland on behalf of the Irish Energy Centre prior to the establishment day and every such act shall insofar as it was operative immediately before the establishment day have effect on and after that day.

Amendment of section 23 of Gas Act, 1976.

31.—

Section 23

of the Gas Act, 1976 is amended by the substitution in subsection (2) of “€1,700,000,000” for “£550,000,000” (inserted by the Gas (Amendment) Act, 2000 ).

Amendment of section 39 of Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 (Public Service Obligations).

32.—

Section 39

of the Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 is amended— (a) in subsection (2)— (i) by the substitution of “as are necessary to ensure that, in any specified period,” for “as are necessary to ensure that, in any calendar year,”, (ii) by the deletion of “a specific quantity of” before “electricity from”, and (iii) by the substitution of “generate that electricity” for “generate that quantity of electricity” in paragraph (a), (b) in subsection (5)— (i) by the deletion in paragraph (a) of “in respect of electricity provided to such customers”, and (ii) by the substitution for paragraph (b) of the following paragraph— “(b) the collection and recovery of payments in respect of the levy— (i) from final customers by the Board or the holder of a licence or an authorisation or the holder of a permit under section 37 of the Principal Act, (ii) from the Board or such holders of a licence, authorisation or permit by the distribution system operator or the transmission system operator, and (iii) from the distribution system operator by the transmission system operator,”, (c) in subsection (5)— (i) by the insertion in paragraph (a) of “or holders of a permit under section 37 of the Principal Act”, after “the Board or holders of a licence or an authorisation”, and (ii) by the insertion in paragraph (c) of “or holders of permits under section 37 of the Principal Act” after “the Board and holders of licences or authorisations”, (d) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5)— “(5A) (a) The levy referred to in paragraph (a) of subsection (5) shall be imposed on final customers in respect of a levy period in such a manner that— (i) the levy is apportioned between each category of electricity accounts specified in paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 on the basis of the maximum demand attributable to that category of accounts as a proportion of the aggregate of the maximum demand attributable to each of the three categories of accounts, and (ii) each holder of an electricity account who is a final customer is charged and liable to pay the levy in respect of each electricity account on the basis set out in paragraph 2 of Schedule 2. (b) The attribution of the maximum demand in respect of each category of electricity account shall be carried out by the distribution system operator with the approval of the Commission in respect of each levy period. (c) In this subsection ‘levy period’ means a calendar year or such shorter period as may be specified in the order.”, (e) in subsection (6)— (i) by the insertion of “or the holder of a permit under section 37 of the Principal Act” after “or an authorisation” wherever those words occur in that subsection,

(ii) by the substitution of “specified period” for “specified period of years”, and (iii) by the insertion of “or part of a year” after “each year”, and (f) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (8)— “(8) The Minister shall exercise the powers conferred by this section so as to ensure that the sums realised by the levy or otherwise are sufficient (after the payment of the administrative expenses, as certified by the Commission, of the Board and holders of licences or authorisations or holders of permits under section 37 of the Principal Act incurred in the collection of the levy) to pay to the Board and holders of licences or authorisations or holders of permits under section 37 of the Principal Act the payment required to be made by the order.”.

Insertion of Schedule 2 to Electricity Regulation Act, 1999.

33.—The Electricity Regulation Act, 1999 is amended by the insertion of the matter in the Schedule to this Act after the Schedule to that Act as Schedule 2 to that Act.

SCHEDULE “SCHEDULE 2 Categorisation of Accounts 1. For the purposes of section 39 the categories of electricity account are— (a) Domestic Accounts, meaning electricity accounts held by final customers and which are identified by the distribution system operator as liable for distribution use of system charges at the rate for urban domestic customers or the rate for rural domestic customers; (b) Small Accounts, meaning electricity accounts held by final customers which are not Domestic Accounts or Medium-Large Accounts; (c) Medium-Large Accounts, meaning electricity accounts held by final customers which, in respect of each such account, the distribution system operator certifies as having a maximum import capacity of not less than 30kVA.

Computation of amount of levy payable by holders of individual electricity accounts 2. The amount of levy to be imposed on each electricity account in respect of a levy period shall be computed— (a) in the case of a Domestic Account by dividing the amount of the levy attributed to that category of accounts in accordance with section 39(5A) by the number of electricity accounts certified by the distribution system operator as falling within that category; (b) in the case of a Small Account by dividing the amount of the levy attributed to that category of accounts in accordance with section 39(5A) by the number of electricity accounts certified by the distribution system operator as falling within that category; (c) in the case of a Medium-Large Account by applying the formula in paragraph 3 of this Schedule.

Formula to be applied in computation of amount of levy payable by holders of Medium-Large electricity accounts 3. The amount of levy payable by the holder of an electricity account in respect of each electricity account which is certified by the distribution system operator as being a Medium-Large Account shall be calculated according to the following formula— A × B C Where A is the proportion of the levy attributable to the category of Medium-Large Accounts in accordance with section 39(5A) expressed as a monetary amount;

B is the maximum import capacity of the electricity account of the final customer expressed in kVA;

C is the aggregate of the maximum import capacities of electricity accounts which are certified by the distribution system operator as Medium-Large Accounts expressed in kVA.

Construction and Interpretation 4. (a) In this Schedule a reference to the distribution system operator shall in the case of a final customer who has a direct connection to the transmission system be construed as including a reference to the transmission system operator. (b) In this Schedule— ‘formula determined by the Commission’ means a formula determined by the Commission following consultation with the electricity industry, and having been approved by the Minister, which formula is, after such approval, published by the Commission; ‘maximum import capacity’ means in relation to an individual electricity account— (i) the agreed maximum import capacity being the maximum import capacity expressed in kVA agreed by the holder of the electricity account with the distribution system operator, or (ii) in a case where the maximum import capacity has not been agreed with such an operator, the deemed maximum import capacity being the level of maximum import capacity calculated by the distribution system operator (in accordance with a formula determined by the Commission) as being the maximum import capacity in relation to that account.”.

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