Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to establish a right to local energy supply.

The right to local energy supply already exists under the Electricity Act 1989. One of Ofgem’s key strategic priorities is increasing flexibility across the electricity system to support the delivery of net zero and ensuring that consumers benefit from these innovative changes.

Ofgem’s Innovation Link helps innovators navigate the sector’s arrangements and the Energy Regulation Sandbox enables trials and rollout of new products, services, business models and methodologies. There are a range of options available that Ofgem has developed to support alternative and local supply arrangements. This includes awarding supply licences that are restricted to a geographical area. Ofgem’s Licence Lite regime is another arrangement that removes many of the burdens from a prospective supplier, reducing the cost and complexity of entering and operating in the market. Small scale generators can also apply for a license exemption in some cases to reduce the regulatory burdens of operating at a community level.