Guide to the Revised Scale of Fees by Applicants for Consent under the Electricity (Applications for Consent) Amendment ( Scotland ) Regulations 2005
Introduction
The Electricity Act 1989 specifies that the consent of Scottish Ministers is required for the construction, operation and extension of power stations with an installed capacity in excess of 50 megawatts (MW), or in the case of hydro and marine developments 1 MW (section 36) and for most overhead power lines (section 37). Power station developments that fall below these thresholds are considered under the land use planning system.
Fees
All applications 50 MW and below are made to the local authorities and they are able to charge a range of fees under the Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) ( Scotland ) Regulations 2004. Applications that require the approval of Scottish Ministers incur a fee under The Electricity (Applications for Consent) Amendment (Scotland ) Regulations 2006.
Why revise the fees?
Over the last few years, moves to seek more renewable forms of electricity generation have resulted in a significant increase in the number of consent applications to both Scottish Ministers and local authorities. This increase has put enormous pressure on the consenting process and has resulted in applications which are often complex, take an increasingly long time to reach a conclusion.
The scale of fees introduced in 1990 was considered by the Executive to be too low compared with current local authority fees and in relation to our own costs. Furthermore, as local authorities are heavily involved in the decision making process as a consultee when an application has been made to the Scottish Minister, it was considered appropriate to make a portion of the fee paid by the developer available to the relevant planning authority for the work undertaken by them. The purpose of revising the scale of fees was therefore to:
· Introduce a more realistic level of charge as the last set of fees were introduced in 1990 and
· Recompense local authorities for the work that they will undertake in respect of consent applications made to the Scottish Ministers.
A table showing the revised fee scale is set out below.
Subject Matter of application for consent | New Fee paid to the Executive |
1. Overhead line with a total distance not exceeding 15km which is not an EIA Development | £150 |
2. Overhead line with a total distance not exceeding 15km which is an EIA Development | £2,000 |
3. Overhead line with a total distance: | |
(a) exceeding 15km but not exceeding 50km | £15,000 |
(b) exceeding 50km but not exceeding 100km | £25,000 |
(c) exceeding 100km | £50,000 |
4. Construction or construction and operation of a generating station of megawatt capacity: | |
(a) not exceeding 10 | £5,000 |
(b) exceeding 10 but not exceeding 100 | £15,000 |
(c) exceeding 100 but not exceeding 200 | £20,000 |
(d) exceeding 200 but not exceeding 500 | £30,000 |
(e) exceeding 500 | £50,000 |
5. Extension or extension and operation of a generating station resulting in increase in megawatt capacity: | |
(a) not exceeding 10 | £5,000 |
(b) exceeding 10 but not exceeding 100 | £15,000 |
(c) exceeding 100 but not exceeding 200 | £20,000 |
(d) exceeding 200 but not exceeding 500 | £30,000 |
(e) exceeding 500 | £50,000 |
6. Extension of a nuclear generating station by retrofitting of emission control equipment | £5,000 |
7. Any other extension of a generating system | £1,000 |
8. Operation only or change to manner of operation of a generating station | £1,000 |
When will the revised fees come into force?
The Electricity (Applications for Consent) Amendment ( Scotland ) Regulations 2005 came into force on 13 March 2006 . Applications for consent received on after this date by the Executive will attract the revised fee. All cheques should be payable to the 'Scottish Executive'.
Payments to local authorities
On receipt of an application and associated fee from a developer, the Energy Consents Branch will make a payment to the relevant local authority.
What will happen if there is more than one local authority involved?
Where more than one local authority is involved in relation to section 36 projects, payments will be made to each local authority in proportion to the capacity, in megawatts, of the development in each area. In relation to section 37 projects, payment will similarly be proportionate, based on the distance of the overhead line in each area.
Contact
If you would like to speak to someone about the revised fees and payments to local authorities, please contact Lesley McNeil from Energy Consents:
E-mail: Lesley.McNeil@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 244 1243
Fax: 0300 244 1140