Ofgem ‘fails’ to use its power...
Boss admits not doing enough for vulnerable
BRITAIN’S energy watchdog was branded a “failure” by MPs yesterday.
Ofgem – and its £245,000-a-year chief executive Dermot Nolan – were blasted for allowing energy giants to routinely “exploit” customers with rip-off prices.
Politicians lined up to attack the regulator, which was set up 19 years ago and had a budget of £86million last year.
Labour MP Peter Kyle, a member of the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, put it to Nolan: “Do you ever roll up your sleeves and get stuck in because I don’t see any evidence of that?” Rachel Reeves, chair of the committee, labelled Nolan, who has run Ofgem since 2014, a “bystander”. She said: “Do you think your time as Ofgem chief executive has been a success, are you proud?” Nolan replied: “I think good things have happened.” However, he admitted Ofgem had not done enough to meet its obligation of protecting vulnerable customers, saying: “I accept that we could have done better.” Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach said this suggested Ofgem’s policing of the market had “failed”.
Nolan was being quizzed on government plans to extend the price cap to millions of households on costly standard variable tariffs.
Yet he admitted some SVT customers could be worse off. He said: “I cannot guarantee that some prices will not rise.”
Reeves slammed Ofgem for dishing out nearly £1million in bonuses to staff last year “at the same time that vulnerable customers are paying more than they should be on their expensive bills”.
Nolan said bonuses were in line with civil service guidelines and that he would not be getting one this year.