What’s in a name? Decision of the Supreme Court in HMRC v SSE Generation Limited

CRC v SSE Generation Limited UKSC 17 [2023] was an appeal against the previous Court of Appeal decision [2021] STC 369. SSE had built a new 100MW power plant between February 2006 and December 2008 which was officially opened by HM Queen Elizabeth II in June 2009.

Unfortunately the head race tunnel (HRT) that supplies water from the reservoir formed at the head of Glen Tarff was built through the Conagleann Fault Zone (CFZ) – the site of an historic tear in the ground caused by a prior earthquake.

In August 2009 only a few weeks after opening there was a significant rock fall in the vicinity of the CFZ blocking the HRT putting the plant out of action. It only subsequently became fully operational from August 2012 following remedial works that built an entirely new HRT.

SSE had claimed capital allowances on...