Ofgem admits it should have acted sooner to protect UK households

In a scathing report late last year, Citizens Advice said there had been evidence of financial weakness in the energy market ‘long before this year’s crisis’. Photograph: Simon Dack/Alamy

The energy industry regulator has admitted that British households would have been better off weathering the winter gas crisis if it had acted sooner to crack down on financially unstable energy suppliers.

The Ofgem chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, told MPs that households could face a bill of about £200m to cover the costs left by a string of energy provider collapses since gas market prices rocketed to record highs last September.