Gas Act, 2001 (Act No. 48 of 2001)Chapter III : Gas Licences and Registration21. Conditions of licence |
| (1) | The Gas Regulator may impose licence conditions within the following framework of requirements and limitations: |
| (a) | A licensee must carry out the construction, operation or trading activities for which the licence is granted; |
| (b) | licensees must provide information to the Gas Regulator of the commercial arrangements regarding the participation of historically disadvantaged South Africans in the licensees' activities as prescribed by regulation and other relevant legislation; |
| (c) | the gas transmission, storage, distribution, trading, liquefaction and re-gasification activities of vertically integrated companies must be managed separately with separate accounts and data and with no cross-subsidisation; |
| (d) | third parties must in the prescribed manner have access on commercially reasonable terms to uncommitted capacity in transmission pipelines; |
| (e) | interested parties must be allowed to negotiate changes with transmission companies in the routing, size and capacity of proposed pipelines; |
| (f) | interested parties must be allowed to negotiate with transmission companies for increases in compression of existing transmission pipelines and all pipeline customers must benefit equitably from reduced costs resulting from the increased volume; |
| (g) | transmission companies are not obliged to incur any additional expenditure to provide the changes referred to in paragraphs (e) and (f), and the total cost for the pipeline must be shared equitably between the transmission company and the parties requesting the change; |
| (h) | licensees must allow interconnections with the facilities of suppliers of gas, transmitters, storage companies, distributors, reticulators and eligible customers, as long as the interconnection is technically feasible and the person requesting the interconnection bears the increased costs occasioned thereby, which must be taken into account when setting their tariffs; |
| (i) | third parties must in the prescribed manner have access on commercially reasonable terms to uncommitted capacity in storage facilities; |
| (j) | interested parties may negotiate with storage companies for changes in the capacity of storage facilities; |
| (k) | storage companies are not obliged to incur any additional expenditure to provide the changes contemplated in paragraph (j) and the total cost for the storage facility must be shared equitably between the storage company and the party requesting the change; |
| (I) | apart from direct sales via physical by-passes to eligible customers who may alternatively have access to the distribution network at the distributor’s discretion, a distributor will be granted an exclusive geographic area, but only for a particular range of specifications of gas determined by the Gas Regulator; |
| (m) | a distributor will be granted the construction, operation and trading licences for its exclusive geographic area. The construction and operation licences will be exclusive for the period of validity of such licences, and the trading licence will be exclusive for a period determined by the Gas Regulator; |
| (n) | an exclusive geographic area must be based on the distributor’s ability to supply present and future potential consumers at competitive prices and conditions; |
| (o) | gas must be supplied by a licensed distributor within its exclusive geographic area to any person on request, if such service is economically viable; |
| (p) | maximum prices for distributors, reticulators and all classes of consumers must be approved by the Gas Regulator where there is inadequate competition as contemplated in Chapters 2 and 3 of the Competition Act, 1998 (Act No. 89 of 1998); |
| (q) | an advisory service with regard to the safe and efficient use, handling and storage of gas must be provided to customers other than eligible customers, by the trading licensee; |
| (r) | licensees must maintain their facilities in a fully operative condition; |
| (s) | all customers in a licensed distribution area, except eligible customers and reticulators, must purchase their gas from the distribution company licensed for that area; |
| (t) | the time period within which gas facilities will become operational must be fixed; and |
| (u) | licensees must provide information necessary for the Gas Regulator to perform its functions. |
(2)
| (a) | Any person aggrieved by a condition imposed by the Gas Regulator in terms of subsection (1) may in the prescribed manner apply to the Gas Regulator to have the condition reviewed. |
| (b) | If the aggrieved person is not the licensee the Gas Regulator must inform the licensee regarding the application for review. |
| (c) | Whenever there is an application for review in terms of paragraph (a) the Gas Regulator must conduct an investigation and may for that purpose summon witnesses to appear before it. |