I regularly talk to customers so I know that many readers of The Chronicle will be worried about rising energy bills.
This is a difficult time for many households. We have clear rules in place for how vulnerable customers are treated, and I would encourage anyone struggling with their bills to get in touch with their energy company as soon as they can.
As Britain’s energy regulator, Ofgem is focused on protecting customers, ensuring a secure supply of electricity and gas, and helping the country make the transition to a greener, more affordable, home-grown energy system. Given the situation in Ukraine and the implications for our gas prices, it has never been more important to move to cheaper, low carbon alternatives.
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To make this happen, we need to invest billions of pounds to upgrade our electricity network: things like installing more electric vehicle charging points as we move away from petrol and diesel cars, increasing our grid capacity to power heat pumps as we transition from gas boilers, and making the grid more resilient, so it can withstand the more frequent storms we have seen this winter. Later this year Ofgem will strike a landmark settlement with electricity network companies to help deliver this investment.
Since this will ultimately be paid for by customers, we are determined that we get the best deal possible. To ensure the voice of customers is heard I will be holding virtual “open hearings” across the country to scrutinise each company’s spending plans – and today I will be meeting Northern Powergrid (the electricity distribution company covering the North East and Yorkshire), community representatives and energy experts.
A smarter, more flexible grid that can shift demand will save customers up to £4.5bn a year, avoiding the need for unnecessary expensive new power projects. As we extend the use of low carbon sources of energy and technologies, this is an opportunity to revolutionise how and when we use energy – from smart gadgets that draw energy from the grid at cheaper rates, to supporting the electric car roll out by reducing charging costs.
Ofgem cannot control volatile global gas prices, and sadly I cannot pretend that we can protect customers from the full impact of rising energy bills today. But I want to assure you that by pressing ahead with plans to build a greener, more resilient, more affordable energy system, Ofgem is building the defences which will help protect customers from price shocks tomorrow.
