Regulator sorry for not capping UK consumers’ energy bills sooner
Bearing in mind the energy premium for rural dwellers this article will be of interest to Hinterland readers. I wonder how much attention the regulator pays in its thinking to the process of rural proofing?
The head of the UK energy regulator has said he will not receive his bonus, as he came under pressure from MPs who accused him of being a passive bystander and failing to prevent millions of customers from paying over the odds.
Dermot Nolan said he would not get his £15,000 bonus this year as he admitted he had not acted quickly enough to help households get off the most expensive tariffs or impose price protections for them.
The chief executive of Ofgem apologised to vulnerable customers for not capping their bills earlier. He also said the decline in the percentage of people on poor-value default tariffs had not been as dramatic as he hoped.
Rachel Reeves, the chair of the business, energy and industrial strategy select committee, said: “It’s not about what you hoped for, you’re the regulator for the energy companies. My children hope for lots of things from Father Christmas; they can hope, they don’t have much impact on what Father Christmas delivers in their stockings.
“But yours isn’t about hope; you are the regulator, you are the person who is delivering or supposed to be delivering on this. The whole language you use is like a bystander, rather than an active participant in the market.”
Peter Kyle, the Labour MP for Hove, said: “Your testimony sounds so incredibly passive. Do you ever roll your sleeves up and really get stuck in? I don’t see any evidence of that.”
Nolan replied: “I apologise if I seem passive, I honestly do not feel passive … I wish we had moved earlier in putting price caps in.”