NEWS: An update on COVID-19 for energy regulation

Focusing on the latest Ofgem regulatory impacts on your energy supply business

The energy industry has adapted to many of the changes made earlier this year and we have kept our customers informed of the changes and updates to the regulatory landscape as we’ve all navigated through this time.

Ofgem has introduced the COVID-19 RFI and eased regular reporting requirements to help suppliers to reprioritise and provide the support their customers needed.

As we move to a new normal, Ofgem is making further changes to regulatory reporting.

As a supplier you will have received a letter from Ofgem dated 16th June 2020, which sets out the planned phased return. The key areas addressed cover: risk management, debt management, customer contact levels and site-visits.

Here we want to focus on the regulatory impacts and implications to your business.

Guaranteed Standards

• In general, Guaranteed Standards failure payments will once again be payable to customers following the earlier suspension
• There may still be exceptional circumstances in certain areas or cases which may continue for a while

If you feel that your business could have a case for raising exceptional circumstances with Ofgem, it may be necessary to design a process to apply this.

Regulatory Reporting

Having been suspended shortly after the outbreak of the pandemic, normal reporting will shortly resume. This will apply to:

• Complaints
• Social Obligations Reporting (SOR)

• Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSoP)

Responses to these reports must be submitted by the end of July 2020 to cover Q1 and Q2 (or the relevant monthly frequency where applicable).

Ofgem plans to reduce the scope and frequency of the weekly COVID-19 RFI from early July.

Regulatory Engagement

Having been paused to enable stakeholders to re-allocate resource to meet business needs, regulatory engagement will begin to increase with policy development, whilst being mindful of suppliers' abilities to re-engage in a timely manner.

Switching

Suppliers should facilitate switch requests (and incumbent processes) as per the industry obligations, this includes providing customer prompts for better deals and enabling customer engagement.

Should you have any questions or require any support with the above then please speak to your Account Director or contact our Regulations Team.