Ofgem's retail market review

Ofgem's retail market review
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Energy and Climate Change Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2011-07-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780215560872

The Energy and Climate Change Committee believes that energy companies found to have mis-sold electricity and gas deals should pay compensation to consumers. The Committee is concerned that customers may be pressured into switching supplier on the door-step without proper consideration of the options when confronted with a vast array of complex tariffs and a hard sell. Figures from Ofgem suggest that up to 40% of consumers who switch do not end up with a better deal. The report also raises concerns about the propensity for energy prices to 'rise like a rocket and fall like a feather', the growing complexity of tariffs and the market dominance of the 'Big Six' vertically integrated energy companies. The MPs single out recent price increases from ScottishPower for particular criticism. Customers who use the least energy will be hit the hardest from August when the increases are put into effect providing an apparent incentive for higher consumption - when energy companies are now supposed to be helping consumers become energy efficient. Electricity and gas tariffs are now so complex that even the Energy Minister admitted he got confused when trying to switch. The Committee is worried that a lot of people are simply bamboozled by their bills and the vast array of different tariffs on offer. The industry should address these problems immediately without waiting for Ofgem or the Government to act.

Ofgem

Ofgem
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2005-05-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780215023322

Some 2.25 million households in the UK are classified as being in fuel poverty, spending more than 10 per cent of their income on energy to heat their homes. Some consumers get into debt, often through inaccurate estimated bills, and they are then required to use pre-payment meters, even though this is the most expensive way of purchasing energy. Ofgems encouragement of suppliers to recover the cost of installing and using pre-payment meters is found to be inconsistent with its obligations towards vulnerable consumers (in contrast, Ofgem protects rural consumers from paying the higher costs of delivering energy to their homes). The Committee concludes that suppliers should provide accurate bills, should not discriminate against pre-payment meter consumers, and should provide more information to them about the disadvantages of those meters. On the energy efficiency commitment (administered by Ofgem), requiring energy suppliers to meet specific energy saving targets, the Committee queries whether the provision of measures such as cavity wall insulation and low-energy lightbulbs, do actually deliver the energy reduction intended. Ofgem, with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the energy suppliers, should undertake a national campaign to encourage energy efficiency. Clearer explanation of the environmental measures to save energy, and their costs to consumers, is recommended.

Service Quality Regulation in Electricity Distribution and Retail

Service Quality Regulation in Electricity Distribution and Retail
Author: Elena Fumagalli
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2007-09-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540734449

This book is a comprehensive, clear, and well-organized description of applied quality regulation in the electricity sector as it is today. It creates an essential bridge linking the theoretical aspects of service quality regulation with country-specific applied mechanisms. As a special feature, the book offers a survey of the most innovative regulatory mechanisms under proposal, in test stages, or in effect in European countries.

Renewable Energy: Practicalities, and Energy Efficiency

Renewable Energy: Practicalities, and Energy Efficiency
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Science and Technology Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2006-01-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780104008034

This publication sets out the Government's response to two of the Committee's reports on energy policy issues: on targets for renewable energy resources (4th report, HLP 126, session 2003-04, ISBN 0104005068); and on the contribution that energy efficiency can make towards achieving the Government's objective to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (2nd report, HLP 21, session 2005-06, ISBN 0104007230). It also includes responses to the report on energy efficiency from Ofgem and from the Chairman of Committees on behalf of the House of Lords administration. The Government's Energy White Paper (Our energy future: creating a low carbon economy, Cm 5761, ISBN 0101576129) was published in February 2003.

Global Energy Policy and Security

Global Energy Policy and Security
Author: Walter Leal Filho
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2013-09-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1447152867

Despite efforts to increase renewables, the global energy mix is still likely to be dominated by fossil-fuels in the foreseeable future, particularly gas for electricity and oil for land, air and sea transport. The reliance on depleting conventional oil and natural gas resources and the geographic distribution of these reserves can have geopolitical implications for energy importers and exporters. Global Energy Policy and Security examines the security of global and national energy supplies, as well as the sensitivity and impacts of sustainable energy policies which emphasize the various political, economic, technological, financial and social factors that influence energy supply, demand and security. Multidisciplinary perspectives provide the interrelated topics of energy security and energy policy within a rapidly changing socio-political and technological landscape during the 21st century. Included are two main types of interdisciplinary papers. One set of papers deals with technical aspects of energy efficiency, renewable energy and the use of tariffs. The other set of papers focuses on social, economic or political issues related to energy security and policy, also describing research, practical projects and other concrete initiatives being performed in different parts of the world. This book will prove useful to all those students and researchers interested in the connections between energy production, energy use, energy security and the role of energy policies.

Law and Corporate Behaviour

Law and Corporate Behaviour
Author: Christopher Hodges
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 768
Release: 2015-10-22
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1782255834

This book examines the theories and practice of how to control corporate behaviour through legal techniques. The principal theories examined are deterrence, economic rational acting, responsive regulation, and the findings of behavioural psychology. Leading examples of the various approaches are given in order to illustrate the models: private enforcement of law through litigation in the USA, public enforcement of competition law by the European Commission, and the recent reform of policies on public enforcement of regulatory law in the United Kingdom. Noting that behavioural psychology has as yet had only limited application in legal and regulatory theory, the book then analyses various European regulatory structures where behavioural techniques can be seen or could be applied. Sectors examined include financial services, civil aviation, pharmaceuticals, and workplace health & safety. Key findings are that 'enforcement' has to focus on identifying the causes of non-compliance, so as to be able to support improved performance, rather than be based on fear motivating complete compliance. Systems in which reporting is essential for safety only function with a no-blame culture. The book concludes by proposing an holistic model for maximising compliance within large organisations, combining public regulatory and criminal controls with internal corporate systems and external influences by stakeholders, held together by a unified core of ethical principles. Hence, the book proposes a new theory of ethical regulation. This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's International Arbitration online service.

UK economic regulators

UK economic regulators
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Lords: Select Committee on Regulators
Publisher: The Stationery Office
Total Pages: 648
Release: 2007-11-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780104011652

UK economic Regulators : 1st report of session 2006-07, Vol. 2: Evidence

Reforming the Chinese Electricity Supply Sector

Reforming the Chinese Electricity Supply Sector
Author: Michael G. Pollitt
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2020-06-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 303039462X

The Chinese electricity sector is the largest in the world, covering well over 20% of the world's electricity supply. While many other countries liberalized their electricity systems in the 1990s, thereby creating competitive wholesale and retail electricity markets, China’s move towards liberalization has advanced at a slower pace – until now. Following the China State Council's publication of the No. 9 document on 'Deepening Reform of the Power Sector', this book reflects on the ambitious new round of reforms aimed at introducing competitive wholesale electricity markets and incentive regulation for its power grids. Written in collaboration with Hao Chen, Lewis Dale and Chung-Han Yang, this book provides lessons for China’s reforms from international experience, combining a detailed review of reforms from around the world with specific application to China and focuses on how the industrial price of electricity is determined in a liberalized power system.

Gas Prices in the UK

Gas Prices in the UK
Author: Philip Wright (MA.)
Publisher: Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2006
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780199299652

This book provides insights into the reasons for dramatic increases in UK gas prices since 2003, contending that replacement of administered arrangements by market relationships and competition have made UK gas prices far more sensitive to insecurities of supply, both small-scale and large-scale, leading to the formation of an industry ownership structure.

Regulation in the European Electricity Sector

Regulation in the European Electricity Sector
Author: Maciej M Sokołowski
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2016-02-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317332121

Since the very beginning of European integration, electricity has been within the legal sphere of the EU. Much of this is found within the binding European acts making up the framework of the Energy Packages. The established legal institutions have had a significant impact on the shape of the energy market in Europe. Nevertheless, the European energy market still seems to be developing, as demonstrated by the current lively discussion about the state of the Energy Union. Regulation in the European Electricity Sector delves into European energy law and reflects on some of the primary issues related to the public legal impact on the European energy sector. The book offers a brief explanation of the background operation of the electricity sector, as well as liberalisation within the area, and traces the evolution of the EU’s approach towards the issue of public law regulation within the electricity sector. Finally, the book presents an analysis of European and national laws, considering their interpretation, and explores the future of public law regulation. Aimed at giving the reader a deep insight into a nature of the state’s presence in the power sector, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of EU energy law and policy.