PART II

Establishment of Commission for Electricity Regulation

8. —(1) The Minister shall by order appoint a day to be the establishment day for the purposes of this Act.

(2) There shall stand established on the establishment day a body to be known in the Irish language as An Coimisiún um Rialáil Leictreachais or in the English language as the Commission for Electricity Regulation and in this Act referred to as the “Commission” to perform the functions conferred on it by this Act.

(3) The Schedule shall apply to the Commission.

(4) The Commission shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal and power to sue and be used in its corporate name and to acquire, hold and dispose of land or an interest in land, and to acquire, hold and dispose of any other property.

(5) The seal of the Commission shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairperson of the Commission, or by the signatures of any other member of the Commission and a member of the staff of the Commission authorised by the Commission to act in that behalf.

(6) Judicial notice shall be taken of the seal of the Commission and every document purporting to be an instrument made by and to be sealed with the seal of the Commission (purporting to be authenticated in accordance with this section) shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be such instrument without proof unless the contrary is shown.

9. —(1) The Commission shall have the following functions, namely—

(a) to publish, pursuant to a policy direction or directions of the Minister, which shall be made publicly available when given to the Commission, proposals for a system of contracts and other arrangements, including appropriate rights and obligations, for trading in electricity,

(b) to engage in a public consultation process on the procedures to be adopted by the Commission to implement the proposals drawn up under paragraph (a),

(c) to advise the Minister on the impact of electricity generation in relation to sustainability, and international agreements on the environment to which the State is or becomes a party,

(d) following the public consultation process referred to in paragraph (b) and taking account of matters raised in the public consultation process, to make regulations, subject to the consent of the Minister, establishing a system of trading in electricity, including the supervision and review of such a system by the Commission, and

(e) to advise the Minister on the development of the electricity industry and on the exercise of the functions of the Minister under this Act.

(2) Notwithstanding the generality of subsection (1) (a), a policy direction of the Minister shall include a direction that procedures of the Commission enable the implementation of orders made by the Minister under sections 39 and 40.

(3) It shall be the duty of the Minister and the Commission to carry out their functions and exercise the powers conferred on them under this Act in a manner which—

(a) does not discriminate unfairly between holders of licences, authorisations and the Board or between applicants for authorisations or licences, and

(b) the Minister or the Commission, as the case may be, considers protects the interests of final customers.

(4) In carrying out the duty imposed by subsection (3), the Minister and the Commission shall have regard to the need:

(a) to promote competition in the generation and supply of electricity in accordance with this Act;

(b) to secure that all reasonable demands by final customers of electricity for electricity are satisfied;

(c) to secure that licence holders are capable of financing the undertaking of the activities which they are licensed to undertake;

(d) to promote safety and efficiency on the part of electricity undertakings;

(e) to promote the continuity, security and quality of supplies of electricity; and

(f) to promote the use of renewable, sustainable or alternative forms of energy.

(5) Without prejudice to subsections (3) and (4), it shall be the duty of the Commission:

(a) to take account of the protection of the environment;

(b) to encourage the efficient use and production of electricity;

(c) to take account of the needs of rural customers, the disadvantaged and the elderly;

(d) to encourage research and development into—

(i) methods of generating electricity using renewable, sustainable and alternative forms of energy and combined heat and power, and

(ii) methods of increasing efficiency in the use and production of electricity;

and

(e) to require that the system operator gives priority to generating stations using renewable, sustainable or alternative energy sources when selecting generating stations.

10. —(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (4), the Minister may give directions to the Commission as regards the performance of its functions under this Act, including directions in relation to the terms and conditions of licences.

(2) The Minister shall not give directions in respect of—

(a) the persons to whom licences or authorisations may be granted, or

(b) the performance of its functions in relation to individual holders of licences or authorisations, individual eligible customers or the Board.

(3) The Commission shall comply with directions given by the Minister under subsection (1).

(4) This section shall stand repealed on the 19th day of February, 2000.

11. —(1) In this section a “person to whom this section applies” means the Board or a holder of a licence or an authorisation.

(2) The Commission may appoint persons to be authorised officers for the purposes of this section.

(3) A person appointed under subsection (2) shall, on his or her appointment, be furnished by the Commission with a certificate of his or her appointment and when exercising a power conferred by subsection (4) shall, if requested by any person thereby affected, produce such certificate to that person for inspection.

(4) For the purposes of the exercise by the Commission of its functions under this Act, an authorised officer may—

(a) enter at any reasonable time any premises owned or occupied by a person to whom this section applies for the purpose of exercising any powers conferred on him or her by this subsection,

(b) require a person to whom this section applies or any member, officer or employee of the person to whom this section applies to produce to the authorised officer any books, documents or records which are in his or her power or control, and in the case of information in a non-legible form to reproduce it in a legible form.

(c) inspect and take extracts from or make copies of any books, documents and records (including in the case of information in a non-legible form a copy of or extract from such information in a permanent legible form), and

(d) require a person to whom this section applies to maintain such books, documents and records for such period or periods of time as the authorised officer may direct.

(5) Where an authorised officer in exercise of his or her powers under this section is prevented from entering any premises an application may be made under section 12 for a warrant to authorise such entry.

(6) A person to whom this section applies who—

(a) obstructs or impedes an authorised officer in the exercise of a power under this section,

(b) fails or refuses to comply with a requirement under this section,

(c) knowingly alters, suppresses or destroys any books, documents or records which the person concerned has been required to produce, or may reasonably expect to be required to produce, or

(d) knowingly gives to the Commission or to an authorised officer information which is false or misleading, in a material respect,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months or, at the discretion of the District Court, to both such fine and imprisonment.

12. —If a judge of the District Court is satisfied on the sworn information of an authorised officer that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that there has been a contravention of a condition or requirement of a licence or an authorisation, the judge may issue a warrant authorising the authorised officer, accompanied by other authorised officers or members of the Garda Síochána, at any time or times within one month from the date of issue of the warrant, on production if so required of the warrant, to enter such premises as are specified in the warrant, if need be by reasonable force, and exercise all or any of the powers conferred on an authorised officer under section 11 .

13. —(1) Save as otherwise provided by law, a person shall not disclose confidential information obtained by him or her while performing duties as a member of, or as a member of the staff of, or an adviser or consultant to, or as an authorised officer of, the Commission, unless he or she is duly authorised by the Commission to do so.

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 12 months or, at the discretion of the District Court, to both such fine and imprisonment.

(3) (a) In this section “confidential information” means that which is expressed by the Commission to be confidential either as regards particular information or as regards information of a particular class or description.

(b) In expressing information to be confidential, the Commission shall have regard to the requirement to protect information of a confidential commercial nature.

(4) The Freedom of Information Act, 1997 , is hereby amended in the Third Schedule thereto by the addition to Part I at the end thereof—

(a) in column (2), of “Electricity Regulation Act, 1999.”, and

(b) in column (3), of “ Section 13 .”.