On 19 March 2025, Deputy ICC Judge Agnello KC handed down her judgment in Re Odeon Arcade Ltd [2025] EWHC 571 (Ch).
The case turned on the interpretation of paragraph 3(1) of the Electricity Code in Schedule 6 of the Electricity Act 1989. It provides that:
“Where an electricity supplier supplies electricity to any premises otherwise than in pursuance of a contract, the supplier shall be deemed to have contracted with the occupier (or the owner if the premises are unoccupied) for the supply of electricity…”
In Odeon Arcade, a landlord sub-divided commercial premises into three individual units, and leased out each unit to tenants. There was then period of non-payment, in which apparently no party expressly contracted with the electricity company.
The electricity company issued a winding-up petition against the landlord, claiming that the landlord was liable to it under paragraph 3(1). This was on the basis that there was no overall occupier of ‘the premises’ as a whole, but only three separate occupiers of the three individual units comprising ‘the premises’. Since there was no occupier of ‘the premises’ as a whole, the landlord would be liable.
The landlord denied liability. It argued that the statutory reference to ‘occupier’ in the singular necessarily had to include the plural, in light of the Interpretation Act 1978 section 6. The landlord further argued that, as a matter of statutory interpretation, as long as the premises were in fact occupied, that was sufficient to avoid any liability of the landlord towards the electricity company.
The judge agreed with the landlord. In construing the statute, the judge decided that there was no reason why ‘premises’ necessarily had to be read as the entire premises, with all of it occupied by a single occupier. As long as the premises were actually occupied, that was sufficient for the landlord to avoid liability. The intention of the statutory provision was to impose liability on the user of the electricity, and in this case, the landlord was not the electricity user. Where there is only one electricity meter for multiple occupiers of units within the premises, the appropriate remedy for the electricity company is to disconnect the supply where payment is not made.
The judge thus held the landlord not to be liable. She granted an injunction against the electricity company restraining it from pursuing its winding-up petition against the landlord, before dismissing the petition outright.
Oberon Kwok appeared on behalf of the successful landlord. Oberon’s practice spans the full range of corporate and personal insolvency in domestic and cross-border situations.
