| What are investors’ chances to recover their money paid as a |
| 06-04-2010 |
|
The advance – what does the law say? Is the advance paid with regard to filing an application for the issuance of connection condi-tions is returned always if an interconnection agreement is not entered into, or only in the ca-ses directly referred to in the Energy Law? Who pays for grid impact studies? – You, you, and you …… Do power utilities involved in the transmission and distribution of electricity bear the costs of making grid impact studies of new sources which they do not connect to the grid even when they refuse to issue connection conditions? The Act dated 8 January 2010 amending the Energy Law and certain other acts (Journal of Laws 2010.21.104) introduced an obligation to pay advances upon filing an application for the issuance of grid connection conditions for electricity sources in the amount of PLN 30 per each kW of capacity of the planned source, however no more than PLN 3 million. The Act enumerates the instances when a power utility examining the application for the issuance of connection conditions returns the advance: (a) when it refuses to issue the connection conditions or enter into an interconnection agreement, (b) when it issues connection conditions subject to a dispute between the power utility and the subject applying for issuance thereof and the dispute is settled to the advantage of that subject. The amended Energy Law does not answer the question what happens to the advance paid in all other cases. It has to be remembered that the advance is not a fee for examination of the application for the issuance of connection conditions by a power utility. It is an advance for a future benefit, i.e. the connection of a generating unit to the power grid. Although the Energy Law does not refer much to return of the advance, an advance is an institution well-established in the Polish civil law. Payment of advances for future benefits that eventually were not completed was subject to extensive judicature. A power utility could not deduct from the advances any costs related to the examination of the interconnection application. In particular, it could not deduct the costs of development of a grid impact study of the new source even if the grid impact study proves that there are no technical conditions to connect the source to the grid. In the case of a refusal to issue the connection conditions the Law clearly stipulates immediate return of the entire advance. To all whom it concerns: presentation of the legal environment and the investors’ chances to recover their money will be one of many subjects raised during the Vth „Wind Energy Market in Poland” Conference, on 19 April 2010, in Hilton Hotel in Warsaw. Everyone is invited! |
