Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Energy secretary Greg Clark finds himself trying to find a way to implement the energy price cap whilst avoiding the need for a parliamentary vote.
One thing that the government is determined to avoid over the next couple of years will be votes in parliament.
This was evident from the Queen’s Speech, which outlined Theresa May’s threadbare legislative programme until 2019.
The House of Commons will all be about Brexit as it navigates the massive amount of legislation that will be required to secure the UK’s exit from the EU
In this context, it is probably unsurprising that Greg Clark tried to bypass parliament by asking Ofgem chief executive Dermot Nolan to deliver the government’s energy price cap manifesto promise. However, if Clark had consulted Nolan’s predecessor Stephen Littlechild, he would have found the regulator lacks the powers to execute the kind of broad-brush price cap outlined by the Tories before the election.
Barely a week-and-a-half after Clark’s letter had arrived in his inbox, Nolan published a package this week combining protection for those vulnerable customers not on prepayment meters with further measures to promote competition.
From the industry’s perspective, it’s broadly sensible, but has gone down less well in parliament, where an emboldened Labour party called it a “betrayal” of consumers.
And given the Commons arithmetic, it will be difficult for May’s weakened government to resist pressure to legislate.
Therefore a window of opportunity lies open for energy companies to determine their own fate in Ofgem’s consultation.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.