Section 275 — Companies Act 1993: Refusal to supply essential services prohibited

275 Refusal to supply essential services prohibited (1) For the purposes of this section, an essential service means— (a) The retail supply of gas: (b) The retail supply of electricity: (c) The supply of water: (d) Telecommunications services. (2) For the purposes of this section, telecommunications services means the conveyance from one device to another by a line, radio frequency, or other medium, of a sign, signal, impulse, writing, image, sound, instruction, information, or intelligence of any nature, whether or not for the information of a person using the device. (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other Act or any contract, a supplier of an essential service must not— (a) Refuse to supply the service to a liquidator, or to a company in liquidation, by reason of the company's default in paying charges due for the service in relation to a period before the commencement of the liquidation; or (b) Make it a condition of the supply of the service to a liquidator, or to a company in liquidation, that payment be made of outstanding charges due for the service in relation to a period before the commencement of the liquidation; or (c) Make it a condition of the supply of the service to a company in liquidation that the liquidator personally guarantees payment of the charges that would be incurred for the supply of the service. (4) The charges incurred by a liquidator for the supply of an essential service are an expense incurred by the liquidator for the purposes of clause 1(1)(a) of Schedule 7 to this Act. Section 275(4): amended, on 1 November 2007, by section 37 of the Companies Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 56).