Court Finds Error Of Law In Code Amendment

In R (on the application of SSE Generation Ltd) v Competition and Markets Authority  [2022] EWHC 865 (Admin), the Court found an error of law on the part of the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) in the context of amendments made to an energy code.

Key Points

• There is no hierarchy of obligations in legislation, absent contrary language. A breach of one provision is as much of a breach as a breach of another provision.
• Whereas a legal standard must be incorporated correctly as a matter of law, an objective that requires a balance of considerations will be subjected to less scrutiny by the Court.

Background

SSE Generation Limited (“SSE“), an electricity generator, sought judicial review of the decision of the CMA to dismiss SSE's appeal against two modifications of the Connection and Use of System Code (“the Code“) by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (“GEMA“). The Code sets the charges paid by electricity generators to use the national