Electricity supply legislation

The publicised intention had been for the new Regulations to be promulgated in October 2001 but this timescale was not achieved, presumably because the consultation exercise produced so many comments that they could not be resolved in time. A revised set of proposals was issued 

Since the electricity supply legislation is raised by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has the enforcement responsibilities, and these are exercised by the DTTs Engineering Inspectorate. In securing public safety, it is mainly concerned with the overhead transmission and distribution systems, the overhead service lines to consumers premises and the apparatus up to the consumers terminals, as all of these are accessible to the public. There is some overlap of responsibility with the HSE whose concern, under the Health and Safety at Work Act and other health and safety legislation, is the safety of workers and of the public arising from work activities in the supply industries. 

The Regulations are intended to ensure the reliability and quality of the electricity supply and to safeguard the public, livestock and domestic animals 

Regulations 4 to 8 refer to the continuity of the supply neutral conductor, general requirements for connection with earth, multiple earthing of the neutral, protective multiple earthing (PME) supplies on consumers premises, and metalwork earthing. The main duties are to  

Take all reasonable precautions to ensure continuity of the supply neutral 

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Dedicated legislation, usually for industries which are deemed high risk (e.g. nuclear, railways, marine, electricity supply, etc)... 

Tn 1970, 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide emitted from steam electric-power plants. Without control measures these emissions will increase to 40 million tons by 1980. With typical SO2 concentrations in stack gas currently in the range of 1000-2000 ppm, target levels for future control legislation correspond to 50-150 ppm SO2 in the stack, and there are not sufficient low sulfur fuels to meet these standards. To fill the gap between projected supplies of low sulfur fuels and our nation s energy requirements, an economical, high efficiency process to remove SO2 from the fiue gases of power plants is required. Such a process must also recover SO2 in a form which can be readily handled and sold, in recognition of the quantities involved. Furthermore such a process must be compatible with the many constraints public utilities face in its installation and operation. 

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