Energy Operators (Powers) Act 1979

acquisition in relation to land or any estate or interest in land includes taking or resumption, and cognate expressions have a corresponding meaning;

apparatus means any apparatus, equipment, plant, or appliance in which energy is capable of being, or is, or is intended to be transmitted, distributed, used, consumed or converted, and includes any meter, fitting, or connection;

charges includes any sum due from the consumer to an energy operator pursuant to section 62(1);

consumer installation includes all wiring, piping, apparatus and other works not being the property of the supplier of energy on any premises to which energy is, or is intended to be, supplied from the position at which the delivery of energy is made;

Coordinator of Energy means the Coordinator of Energy referred to in section 4 of the Energy Coordination Act 1994;

distribution works means any works, apparatus or system, utilised or capable of being or intended to be utilised for the purpose of transmitting or distributing energy to consumers and includes any other equipment or plant used in conjunction therewith, and any part thereof;

electricity corporation means a body established by the Electricity Corporations Act 2005 section 4(1);

energy includes electrical, hydro‑electrical, chemical, thermal, tidal, nuclear, or solar energy and all other kinds of energy however derived, of whatever form or description, or however used, and the term extends to comprise the source or sources of any such energy;

energy operator means —

generating works means any works, apparatus or system whatsoever utilised or capable of being or intended to be utilised for the production or generation of energy, or for the manufacture or treatment or storage of energy for supply or use, or for the conversion of energy from one form into another, up to the point at which transmission or distribution commences for the purposes of making supply, and includes all land, building, structures and appurtenances pertaining thereto, any other equipment or plant used in conjunction therewith, and any part thereof;

government department or department includes any branch of the Public Service of the State established as a Department within the meaning of that term as defined in the Public Service Act 1978 ¹, but also means any other body established by an Act being a body that —

but where such an Order specifies that a body is only to be deemed to be a government department for the purposes of the provisions of this Act specified in that Order means that body in relation to those provisions but not otherwise;

inspector means a person appointed as such pursuant to section 68;

land includes land covered by water, and shall be construed in accordance with section 36;

liquid petroleum gas means a liquid or vapour which is a mixture of hydrocarbons basically consisting of butane or butene or propane or propene, or any mixture of all or any of them;

meter includes any device designed or adapted for the purpose of ascertaining a measure, and any other device used in conjunction therewith to facilitate that purpose;

officer includes any person, acting within the authorisation conferred upon him, to whom subsection (2) applies;

premises means any land, street, structure, or other place, and may include a vehicle or other thing in or in connection with which energy is or is to be supplied;

service apparatus means any works, apparatus or system which is or is capable of being or is intended to be used for the purpose of conveying, measuring, or controlling energy supplied from any distribution works to the position on any premises at which delivery of the energy is, is capable of being, or is intended to be, made to the consumer, and includes any part of the service apparatus, and any other equipment or plant used in conjunction therewith, whether or not the property of the energy operator concerned;

street includes any highway, road, thoroughfare, lane, alley, square, court, or place of public passage;

supply system may include the generating works, distribution works, and service apparatus pertaining thereto;

system emergency means any event or circumstances to which section 57(1) applies;

undertaking includes works of whatever description used or intended to be used for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the prospecting for, obtaining of, or the generation, conversion, development, storage, distribution, provision or use of energy, and also includes any necessary or convenient lands, water, mines, quarries, buildings, structures, equipment, plant, apparatus, services, facilities, and other works or means provided or used for or in connection therewith, together with any activities, studies, projects, administrative arrangements, legal entities, securities or financial arrangements, concessions, rights, patents, contracts, or other things relating thereto;

works includes any works, excavation, construction, or thing used or intended to be used for the purposes of a supply system or undertaking.

together with such vehicles, vessels, machinery or equipment as may be necessary for the purpose, to exercise that power for the purposes of this Act, and any reference to or liability of the energy operator may where the context so requires be construed accordingly.

[Section 4 amended: No. 101 of 1981 s. 3; No. 24 of 1986 s. 5; No. 89 of 1994 s. 6, 39 and 41; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 58 of 1999 s. 79, 83(1) and (3) and 90; No. 24 of 2000 s. 14(13); No. 33 of 2004 s. 39; No. 18 of 2005 s. 139; No. 25 of 2013 s. 41.]