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If you know that you will NOT be abstracting water in any one year, notify SEPA before the end of February and you will qualify for a temporary exemption from annual charges |
1. Temporary cessation of all abstraction(s) specified in your licence
Under the Controlled Activities Regulations, a holder of an abstraction licences who does not intend to abstract any water (as per the terms of that licence) between 1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009 can apply to SEPA between 1 December 2007 and 29 February 2008 for an exemption from subsistence charges. The exemption will apply for financial year 08/09 and data return in relation to the authorisation will also be cancelled for the same period.
In order to apply, please complete the application letter here and return it to your local SEPA office.
Conditions apply – view them here.
The exemption from charging applies to an abstraction for any purpose but will be particularly relevant to farmers who have decided not to grow certain crops that may require irrigation in a particular year.
Conditions of exemption from charges
This exemption from charging applies only for as long as you keep to your undertaking and refrain from abstracting under the terms of your authorisation for the duration of that period.
If at any time during that period you abstract any water, the exemption will immediately cease to have effect in respect of that authorisation, and you will once again be liable for full subsistence charges for the period. Such an action may constitute an offence under the Controlled Activities Regulations and you may therefore be subject to appropriate enforcement action by SEPA, including the submission of a report to the Procurator Fiscal.
You will be automatically levied a subsistence charge in the following financial year (1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009) unless you write to SEPA between 1 December 2007 and 29 February 2008) to claim, again, temporary cessation of abstraction during that financial year.
This exemption will be offered every year until further notice.
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2. Temporary cessation of some (but not all) abstractions authorised in your licence
Where you are planning to not abstract water at some (not all) of the authorised locations contained in your licence over the coming year then you will only qualify for a reduced annual subsistence charge if the new cumulative daily volume of the abstraction(s) falls into a lower charge band than you are currently billed for (most irrigation licences are in volume band 100m3/d – 2000m3/d) or, in some rare cases, if you fall within a different band for the other charging factors.
If you are in this situation please contact your local SEPA office to discuss prior to making any application as the application letter above only applies where you are planning no abstraction of water under your licence.
The volume bands in the charging scheme are specified in the table below.
Table 1 - Volume abstracted – bands and factors
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Band
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1
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> 150 ML per day
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2
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> 50 to 150 ML per day
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3
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> 10 to 50 ML per day
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4
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> 2 to 10 ML per day
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5
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> 100 to 2,000 m3 per day
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6
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> 50 to 100 m3 per day
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7
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0 to 50 m3 per day
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