The Clean Heat Market Mechanism Regulations 2025

2 Interpretation

(1) In these Regulations— “administrator” means the Environment Agency, appointed as the administrator of the Scheme under regulation 8(1); “authorised person” means a person authorised in accordance with regulation 31; “building” means a fixed or moveable roofed construction having walls, for which energy is used to condition the indoor climate, and references to a building include a building unit within that building; “building unit” means a section, floor or apartment within a building which is designed or altered to be used separately; “certificate” means a certificate acquired in accordance with regulation 13; “certificate holder” has the meaning given in regulation 13(3); “certification scheme” has the meaning given in regulation 6; “excluded sale”, in relation to a fossil fuel boiler, means a sale of a fossil fuel boiler which is, or is to be, installed at a building— outside the United Kingdom; or which has not been first used or occupied before the installation takes place; “financial year”, in relation to an undertaking, has the meaning given in section 390 of the Companies Act 2006; “fossil fuel boiler” means a gas boiler or an oil boiler; “gas boiler” means a heating appliance which— generates heat and is capable of burning natural gas (within the meaning of the Energy Act 1976) or liquified petroleum gas to do so; and has a capacity of no more than 70 kilowatt thermal; “group of undertakings” means two or more undertakings which are group undertakings in relation to each other; “group undertaking”, in relation to another undertaking, has the meaning given in section 1161(5) of the Companies Act 2006; “heat pump” means a stand-alone heat pump or a hybrid heat pump; “hybrid heat pump” means the part of a hybrid heating system which is described in regulation 4(1)(a)(ii); “hybrid heating system” means a heating system which falls within regulation 4(1); “installation” in relation to a heat pump, means an installation that meets the requirements of regulation 5, and related expressions are to be construed accordingly; “near-threshold supplier” means an undertaking or a group of undertakings which is a near-threshold supplier in accordance with regulation 10; “oil boiler” means a heating appliance which— generates heat and is capable of burning a liquid heating oil within class C1, C2 or D of British Standard BS2869 to do so; and has a capacity of no more than 70 kilowatt thermal; “publication” means the publication by the administrator of the name of a person, or of the name of each member of a group of undertakings, and details of the failure in respect of which a civil penalty has been imposed on that person or group of undertakings under Part 8; “qualifying sale”, in relation to a fossil fuel boiler, means a sale of a fossil fuel boiler which is not an excluded sale; “registry” has the meaning given in regulation 8(2); “responsible undertaking”, in relation to a scheme participant or a near-threshold supplier, means the undertaking which is identified as such in accordance with regulation 11; “sale”, in relation to a fossil fuel boiler, means the first transfer of the general property in the fossil fuel boiler which is made in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge, where— the transfer is pursuant to a contract under which— transfer of possession of the boiler takes place in the United Kingdom; the boiler is sent to a place in the United Kingdom; the transferee is an individual for the time being present in the United Kingdom; or the transferee is an undertaking contracting through a place of business in the United Kingdom; or paragraph (a) does not apply, but the supplier of the fossil fuel boiler has reason to believe that the boiler is to be installed at a building in the United Kingdom; “Scheme” means the low-carbon heat scheme known as the Clean Heat Market Mechanism established by regulation 7; “scheme participant” means an undertaking or group of undertakings which is a scheme participant in accordance with regulation 9; “scheme year” means the period of 12 months beginning with 1st April 2025 and ending with 31st March 2026 or any of the three subsequent periods of 12 months; and a reference to a scheme year described by a calendar year (for example, the “2026 scheme year”) is a reference to the scheme year beginning with 1st April of that calendar year; “stand-alone heat pump” means a heating appliance which falls within regulation 3(1); “supplier”, in relation to a fossil fuel boiler or a heat pump, means the undertaking— which manufactured the fossil fuel boiler or heat pump, or which had it manufactured; and which owns, or has the right to use, the brand name, trade mark or other distinctive mark under which the fossil fuel boiler or heat pump is marketed in the United Kingdom; “undertaking” has the meaning given in section 1161(1) of the Companies Act 2006. (2) For the purposes of these Regulations— (a) a group of undertakings which is a scheme participant by virtue of regulation 9(2) is treated as being the supplier of a fossil fuel boiler or a heat pump of which any of the undertakings forming part of the group is the supplier; and (b) a group of undertakings which is a near-threshold supplier by virtue of regulation 10(2) is treated as being the supplier of a fossil fuel boiler or a heat pump of which any of the undertakings forming part of the group is the supplier. (3) For the purposes of interpreting a reference in these Regulations to a building which has, or has not, been first used or occupied before the installation of a heat pump or a fossil fuel boiler takes place at the building, use or occupation of a building in which a building unit is situated counts as use or occupation of any building unit within that building. (4) Where more than one undertaking falls within the definition of “supplier” in relation to a fossil fuel boiler— (a) the supplier of the fossil fuel boiler is the undertaking which manufactured it; but (b) if none of the undertakings manufactured it, the supplier of the fossil fuel boiler is the undertaking which was the supplier of the greatest number of fossil fuel boilers which were sold during the scheme year preceding the scheme year during which the fossil fuel boiler is sold. (5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)— (a) the period beginning with 1st April 2024 and ending with 31st March 2025 is treated as the scheme year preceding the 2025 scheme year; (b) a reference to a fossil fuel boiler being sold is a reference to the fossil fuel boiler being the subject of a sale which falls within the description in the definition of “sale” in paragraph (1). (6) Where more than one undertaking falls within the definition of “supplier” in relation to a heat pump— (a) the supplier of the heat pump is the undertaking which manufactured it; but (b) if none of the undertakings manufactured it, the supplier of the heat pump is the undertaking which is recorded in the register of a certification scheme for the purposes of regulation 5(c)(iv) (information concerning installation of heat pumps), unless more than one undertaking is so recorded, in which case paragraph (7) applies. (7) Where this paragraph applies— (a) the undertakings which are recorded in the register of a certification scheme for the purposes of regulation 5(c)(iv) must notify the administrator, on or before 30th September of the year following the end of the scheme year during which the heat pump is installed, which of them is the supplier of the heat pump for the purposes of regulation 13 (acquisition of certificates); and (b) in the absence of such notification, the heat pump is treated as not having been installed.