Asked by: Peter Swallow (Labour - Bracknell)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of Ofgem's powers to regulate energy companies and protect customers from overpayment on energy bills.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is carrying out a review of Ofgem to re-establish it as a strong consumer champion, driving up standards for household and business consumers. The outcome of the review will be published shortly.
The Government has also consulted on strengthening the Energy Ombudsman to ensure that, where complaints have been escalated to the Ombudsman, suppliers comply with its final decisions or pay compensation to their customers. The Government is also working with Ofgem to look at increasing the value of automatic compensation paid to customers when errors are made and expanding automatic compensation to cover more key issues faced by consumers, including when suppliers fail to adjust their Direct Debits.