Which SP Energy Networks (“SPEN”) companies are in scope of the EIR Regulations?
The businesses (“companies”) in scope for the EIR are:
- SP Transmission plc, which owns, builds, and maintains the high voltage electricity transmission system within the Central and Southern Scotland area.
- SP Distribution plc, which owns, builds, and maintains the medium and lower voltage electricity distribution systems in Central and South of Scotland.
- SP Manweb plc, which owns, builds, and maintains the medium and lower voltage electricity distribution systems in Cheshire, Merseyside, North Shropshire, and North Wales.
No SPEN company is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
What environmental information does SPEN publish?
As a leading electricity networks business, SP Energy Networks has a critical role to help the UK meet its ambitious climate change targets and enable the transition to a low carbon economy. We will work together to deliver a better future, quicker. Our companies publish a wide range of environmental information, and these should be reviewed in the first instance. See the following links here:
Sustainability: Reports and Publications: Reports and Publications - SP Energy Networks
Transmission Business Plan: Our RIIO-T3 Business Plan - SP Energy Networks
Distribution Business Plan: Our RIIO-ED2 Business Plan - SP Energy Networks
Open Data
Providing data to our stakeholders is one of the key pillars of SPEN’s Digitalisation Strategy. To enable us to share our data efficiently and effectively, we launched an online “Open Data Portal”. This portal can be freely accessed by our customers and stakeholders via the SP Energy Networks website, and enables users to search, view, and export datasets in simple, standardised formats.
The portal has been developed with our customers and stakeholders, and hosts a wide range of information, including demand and generation for our grid and primary substations; generation connection capacity heat maps; embedded capacity registers; shapefiles of our assets; and secondary network ratings and utilisation.
The Open Data Portal Can be accessed here: Home — SPENOpenDataPortal
What environmental information can I request?
If you cannot find the Environmental Information from our website or open data platforms, you are entitled to request from us Environmental Information that we hold on any of the following:
- The state of the elements of the environment and the interaction among these elements e.g., water, air, soil or land.
- Factors affecting or likely to affect those elements e.g., radiation, noise, energy, or waste.
- Measures or activities affecting, or likely to affect, those factors or elements, or designed to protect those elements.
- Reports on the implementation of environmental legislation.
- Cost-benefit and other economic analyses and assumptions used within the framework of those measures and activities.
- The state of human health and safety, conditions of human life, cultural sites and built structures in as much as they are or may be affected by those elements.
Charges for environmental information
SP Energy Networks may make a reasonable charge for supplying environmental information in response to a request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Any decision to charge will be made on a case-by-case basis, taking account of the nature of the request, the work required to supply the information and the importance of maintaining effective access to environmental information. We will not routinely charge for responding to EIR requests.
Where a charge is considered reasonable, it will not exceed the reasonable cost to SP Energy Networks of supplying the information.
A charge may include:
- staff time calculated at SP Energy Networks' standard rate of £25 per hour for the reasonable time required to locate, retrieve, extract, collate and prepare the requested information for disclosure;
- reasonable printing, copying, postage or other direct costs of supplying the information; and
- any other reasonable costs directly associated with supplying the requested information.
The standard £25 per hour rate is intended to provide a transparent and consistent basis for calculating charges. However, where the reasonable cost of complying with a request is materially different from that which would ordinarily be calculated using the standard rate, or where a request is unusually complex, extensive or otherwise requires significantly greater resource, SP Energy Networks reserves the right to adjust the proposed charge to reflect the reasonable cost of supplying the information. Where this applies, we will explain the basis of the proposed charge to the applicant before any chargeable work is undertaken.
We will not charge:
- for access to environmental information that is already publicly available through our website, Open Data Portal, public registers or lists;
- for allowing a requester to examine the requested information at a location made available by SP Energy Networks, although a reasonable charge may apply where significant work or cost is required to locate and prepare the information for inspection;
- for determining whether we hold the requested information;
- for considering whether an exception applies or carrying out the public interest test; or
- for costs associated with maintaining information, databases, systems or records.
Before applying a charge, we will consider whether it would be reasonable in the circumstances, including whether it could deter access to information and whether the information is likely to contribute to public understanding of environmental matters. We will also consider whether the request can be clarified or narrowed, whether relevant information can be supplied free of charge, and whether there are circumstances in which the charge should be reduced or waived.
If we propose to charge, we will write to you before undertaking the chargeable work. We will explain the basis of the charge, including the application of the standard charging rate and any factors that result in a higher or lower charge, provide an estimate of the amount and invite you to confirm whether you wish to proceed.
Payment may be required in advance before the information is supplied. The statutory response period will be paused in accordance with the Regulations while payment is outstanding.
You may ask us whether the information can instead be inspected or provided in another reasonable form or format. Any options available without charge, or at a lower charge, will be explained to you.
Schedule of Charges
As noted above, SP Energy Networks does not routinely charge for responding to requests made under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Where SP Energy Networks considers it reasonable to apply a charge under Regulation 8, charges will normally be calculated as follows:
Description | Charge |
Staff time required to locate, retrieve, extract, collate and prepare environmental information for disclosure | £25 per hour |
A4 black and white photocopying | Actual cost |
A4 colour photocopying | Actual cost |
Large format plans, drawings or maps | Actual cost |
Storage media (where requested) | Actual cost |
Postage and delivery | Actual cost |
SP Energy Networks reserves the right to depart from the standard hourly rate where the actual cost of complying with a request is materially different or where a request is unusually complex, extensive or otherwise particularly onerous. In such circumstances, the basis of the proposed charge will be explained to the applicant before any chargeable work is undertaken.
Any charge will not exceed the reasonable cost of supplying the information requested.
Applicants will be advised of any proposed charge before work is undertaken and will have the opportunity to confirm whether they wish to proceed.
Contact us:
You may contact us in any of the following ways:
By Email: eir@spenergynetworks.co.uk
By Telephone:
By Post: SPEN Data Protection Team (marked “ SPEN EIR request”), ScottishPower House, 320 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, G2 5AD.
We aim to deal with your request as soon as possible, but in any event within 20 working days. If your request is particularly complex, we may extend this to 40 working days, and we will tell you if this is the case.
You have the right to ask us for the information to be made available to you in a particular form or format when you make your request. If it is reasonable for us to provide it in that way, we will do so. Email is usually the most convenient method, but we may be able to provide printed copies or arrange for you to visit one of our offices to inspect or collect copies.
Will I receive all the information I request?
Although there is a general presumption in favour of disclosing environmental information, the EIR sets out various circumstances that sometimes allow us to withhold information. We will tell you within the statutory deadline if we are not disclosing the information you have requested, and we will explain why. This could be because the information is not covered by the EIR, or an exception applies and the public interest in not disclosing it outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.
Whatever the reason for non-disclosure, you can be sure that we will not only have considered your request very closely, but we will also have applied the public interest test when legally required to do so. The information we provide in our response will be taken from the information we hold at the date the information was requested. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information and it should not be relied on for any purpose.
How should I word my request?
The Information Commission's Office (ICO) has published guidance on how to write an effective request for information here.
We will endeavour to provide you with the information you have requested, however, clarity in the request will help us provide a more complete response.
Including the specific region, area or address when you request will help us establish which of our companies is best placed to search for the information requested. Please note that we will only have information on the areas of operation of our Distribution and Transmission Network Operator companies.
Some requests may be nationwide in scope and we will be unable to respond, in these circumstances it may be appropriate to contact the National Energy System Operator (NESO).
If we are not clear on exactly what information you’re requesting, we will write to you to ask for clarification and to help steer you through the process. In that case, any relevant information will be provided within 20 working days of receiving your clarification.
How do I complain about the information received?
If you have made a request for environmental information and think we have failed to comply with the Regulations, you have a right to ask us to undertake an internal review. This should be requested within 40 working days of our response. Details on how to do this will be set out in our letter.
How do I escalate a complaint?
We will aim to address your complaint in the first instance. However, if you are still unhappy following the outcome of the internal review process, you can appeal to the Information Commission. They can be contacted in the following ways
By Post: The Information Commission’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
By Email: casework@ico.org.uk