Ofgem

Ofgem is Great Britain’s independent energy regulator.

We work to protect energy consumers, especially vulnerable people, by ensuring they are treated fairly and benefit from a cleaner, greener environment.

We are responsible for

• working with government, industry and consumer groups to deliver a net-zero economy, at the lowest cost to consumers
• stamping out sharp and bad practice, ensuring fair treatment for all consumers, especially the vulnerable
• enabling competition and innovation, which drives down prices and results in new products and services for consumers.

We operate in a statutory framework set by Parliament. This establishes our duties and gives us powers to achieve our objectives.

The government is responsible for setting the policy for the energy sector and proposing any changes to this statutory framework. We have a clear role to play to support policy issues such as decarbonisation and we need to operate within this framework. We do not direct overall policy in the sector. However, where we think there are important policy gaps that affect consumers, we can call this out.

We continually seek to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our approach. This includes setting out the costs and benefits, as well as the social and environmental impacts, of all major decisions.

We regulate only where necessary to protect consumers’ interests and we carefully consider whether any regulatory requirement we propose is proportionate. We carry out investigations into company behaviour when we believe they may have breached a condition of their licence, or the requirements of consumer protection, or competition legislation.

We have the power to require disclosure of information, and to impose fines and enforcement orders on companies where we find that a breach has occurred (apart from breaches of consumer law where penalties cannot be imposed).