Territorial Extent and Application
7.This Act extends to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as described below.
8.All provisions of the Act apply to Wales, except for section 113 (on extending the renewable heat incentive to Northern Ireland) and provisions that deal with Scotland separately from England and Wales (the separate Scottish provision relates to the Green Deal, the Private Rented Sector, the energy performance certificates register, and powers of the Coal Authority).
9.The provisions relating to the introduction of a renewable heat incentive for Northern Ireland extend to Northern Ireland. The provisions relating to the continental shelf, nuclear decommissioning and nuclear security (all of which are reserved in respect of Northern Ireland) extend to Northern Ireland.
10.The Act extends to Scotland, except for section 113 (on extending the renewable heat incentive to Northern Ireland), and provisions which amend legislation which does not itself extend to Scotland (see for example section 106, which contains provisions on decommissioning nuclear sites), or where provisions deal with England and Wales separately from Scotland.
11.In Part 1, aspects of the Green Deal (Chapter 1), Private Rented Sector (Chapter 2) and Energy Company Obligation (Chapter 4) may relate to devolved matters, as may section 75 in Chapter 5 (access to register of energy performance certificates: Scotland) and the provisions about the Coal Authority’s functions in Part 4. Parts 2 and 3 relate to reserved matters in Scotland. The repeal of the Home Energy Conservation Act (Part 5) is devolved to Scotland.
12.The Scottish Parliament’s consent has been sought for the provisions in the Act that trigger the Sewel Convention. The Sewel Convention provides that Westminster will not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.