Comment on National Infrastructure Commission utility regulation report

Commenting on a new report from the National Infrastructure Commission on the regulation of utility companies, Dr Jonathan Marshall, head of analysis at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said:

"Effective regulation is of vital importance as the UK outlines plans to become a net zero nation, with current out-dated rules clearly holding back progress towards a future based on cheaper and cleaner energy. Ensuring that decisions made by Ofgem are seen through the lens of decarbonisation is essential and will stop innovation and technological advancement being held back in the UK, to the detriment of both British businesses and British bill payers.

“Recent years have seen decisions to damage the economics of small scale and renewable generation, tardy progress on rules that allow batteries to operate on an even playing field, and uncertainty around technologies such as demand side response, all of which are set to be vital as an increasing proportion of the UK economy is run on low-cost and low-carbon energy. Shifting Ofgem’s focus onto facilitating the energy transition should see more joined up thinking on such issues."