The Electricity Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002

means the British Standard Requirements for Electrical Installations BS 7671: 2008 IEE Wiring Regulations 17th Edition (ISBN 978-0-86341-844-0);

means an electrical conductor arranged to be electrically connected to a network but does not include conductors used or intended to be used solely for the purposes of control, protection or regulation of supply or for communication;

means connected with earth in such manner as will at all times provide a rapid and safe discharge of energy, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

means any person supplied or entitled to be supplied by a supplier but in regulations 24, 25 and 26 shall not include, in respect of any supply to meet haulage or traction requirements, any person who is an operator of a network within the meaning of Part I of the Railways Act 1993 or an operator of a tramway, a trolley vehicle system or guided transport;

includes danger to health or danger to life or limb from electric shock, burn, injury or mechanical movement to persons, livestock or domestic animals, or from fire or explosion, attendant upon the generation, transmission, transformation, distribution or use of energy;

means a low voltage electric line which connects a distributor’s source of voltage to one or more service lines or directly to a single consumer’s installation;

means a person who owns or operates a network, except for a network where that person is an operator of a network within the meaning of Part I of the Railways Act 1993 or an operator of a tramway, a trolley vehicle system or guided transport;

means the general mass of the earth;

means a conductor or group of conductors in intimate contact with, and providing a connection with, earth;

means any line which is used or intended to be used for carrying electricity for any purpose and includes, unless the context otherwise requires— (a) any equipment connected to any such line for the purpose of carrying electricity;

means electrical energy;

includes plant, meters, lines, supports, appliances and associated items used or intended to be used for carrying electricity for the purposes of generating, transmitting or distributing energy, or for using or measuring energy;

means any event of the kind specified irrespective of whether it was accidental;

means those parts of any premises which are principally used for the purpose of generating energy;

means a person who generates electricity at high voltage for the purpose of supplying consumer’s installations via a network;

means any voltage exceeding low voltage;

means non-conducting material enclosing or surrounding a conductor or any part thereof and of such quality and thickness as to withstand the operating voltage of the equipment;

means a device which supports a live conductor or which electrically separates the upper and lower parts of a stay wire;

means— (a) in relation to alternating current, a voltage exceeding 50 volts measured between phase conductors (or between phase conductors and earth), but not exceeding 1000 volts measured between phase conductors (or 600 volts if measured between phase conductors and earth), calculated by taking the square root of the mean of the squares of the instantaneous values of a voltage during a complete cycle;

means a person who installs, maintains or removes metering equipment used for measuring the flow of energy to or from a network at or near the supply terminals;

means an electrical system supplied by one or more sources of voltage and comprising all the conductors and other equipment used to conduct electricity for the purposes of conveying energy from the source or sources of voltage to one or more consumer’s installations, street electrical fixtures, or other networks, but does not include an electrical system which is situated entirely on an offshore installation;

means a conductor which is, or is intended to be, connected to the neutral point of an electrical system and intended to contribute to the carrying of energy;

means the first electric line, or the replacement of an existing electric line, to one or more consumer’s installations.

means the overhead line could be reached by hand if any scaffolding, ladder or other construction was erected or placed on, in, against or near to a building or structure.

means any electric line which is placed above ground and in the open air;

means a conductor for the carrying of energy other than a neutral conductor or a protective conductor or a conductor used for earthing purposes;

means a source of energy which— (a) generates electricity from the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity;

means the Plug-in Solar Device Interim Product Specification, version 2, published by the Secretary of State on 16 July 2026;

means a conductor which is used for protection against electric shock and which connects the exposed conductive parts of equipment with earth;

means— (i) in respect of an event specified in paragraph (2)(a), (2)(b) or (2)(d), the particulars specified in Parts I, II and IV, respectively, of Schedule 3;

means every consumer likely to be affected by a discontinuation of supply by a distributor and every other distributor likely to be affected by that discontinuation.

means any injury which results in the person injured being admitted into hospital as an in-patient.

means an electric line which connects either a street electrical fixture, or no more than four consumer’s installations in adjacent buildings, to a distributing main;

means a person who holds a licence under section 6(1)(f) of the Electricity Act 1989;

means a permanent fixture which is or is intended to be connected to a supply of electricity and which is in, on, or is associated with a highway;

means any premises or part thereof which contain equipment for either transforming or converting energy to or from high voltage (other than transforming or converting solely for the operation of switching devices or instruments) or for switching, controlling or regulating energy at high voltage, but does not include equipment mounted on a support to any overhead line;

means a person who contracts to supply electricity to consumers;

means the supply of electricity;

means the neutral conductor of a low voltage network which is or is intended to be connected with earth, but does not include any part of the neutral conductor on the consumer’s side of the supply terminals;

means the ends of the electric lines at which the supply is delivered to a consumer’s installation;

means any structure, pole or other device, in, on, by or from which any electric line is or may be supported, carried or suspended and includes stays and struts, but does not include insulators, their fittings or any building or structure the principal purpose of which is not the support of electric lines or equipment;

includes any device which can either make or break a current, or both;... • “tramway”, “trolley vehicle system” and “guided transport” have the same meanings as in section 67(1) of the Transport and Works Act 1992;

means any conductor surrounded by insulation which is placed below ground.