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Which? has called for “swift action” from energy suppliers and Ofgem on the remedies proposed by the Competition and Markets Authority.
The consumer group also expressed disappointment that it will be a long time before consumers feel the benefits of the investigation.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) laid out its recommendations for the market in June, after a two-year probe. Which? head of campaigns Pete Moorey told Utility Week that the industry should not waste any more time.
He said “very swift action” will now be needed by the suppliers and particularly by Ofgem, to set out how they are going to implement the review’s recommendations.
“We’ve got the remedies, let’s get on with the implementation and start to test and trial them, and see if they are the things that will start to shake up this market,” he added.
Moorey said that although Which? supports the remedies, the one disappointment with the report is that “we are left with a set of proposals that still need a lot of work and trialling and testing”, due to the CMA not allowing enough time for the solutions and spending too long on the analysis.
“An awful lot of time was spent doing analysis of problems in the market but we don’t think enough time was given to the remedy process and the solutions,” he said.
“The regulator still has an awful lot of work to do and if there any disappointments from consumers, it will be the fact that there is not going to be immediate changes. A lot of these things are going to have to go through further work which effectively means that it has not just been a two-year enquiry, it’s been three years, potentially more.”
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