High-Time to Reform and Replace Ofgem.

Hope you’re ducking for cover CabbageWars13

I will ignore the pointless digs at Keir Starmer - wasn’t it Thatcher who sold off energy to private shareholders (don’t tell Sid) when it used to belong to the public?

Anyway, yes, I would love to see essential services renationalised. The problem as it stands is that shareholders have to be accommodated so vulnerable people end up doing without in order to pay bills for basic necessities.

Gas, electricity, water, postal deliveries, health and education should be publicly owned, IMO, and there should also be a reversal of the right to buy rented housing. There could (and possibly should) be differences in approach to how they are paid for at source - voters could decide whether to support one vision or another at GEs - but I would be in favour of a per capita tax to cover all of it, with exclusions for those unable to pay for prescribed reasons (eg the sick, disabled, genuinely unemployed).

Charges could be tapered so that the old and/or families with young children pay less, or there could be other approaches depending on the outlook of successive governments, but without profit going to shareholders costs should reduce significantly.

February 2023: Ofgem issued a total ban on forced prepayment meter installations after a scandal involving agents breaking into homes. They only allowed companies to restart in January 2024 under much stricter rules.

​January 2025: National Grid Gas was hit with an £8 million fine for failing to accurately report on their pipe maintenance to save money.

​May 2025: Ofgem forced ten major suppliers to pay £7 million for overcharging customers who had "restricted" meters (like Economy 7). They rejected the companies' billing and forced refunds.

​July 2025: Octopus was ordered to pay £1.5 million because they failed to send final bills to 34,000 customers who had left the company. Ofgem stepped in because the company was too slow to return people's money.

Regarding rejection of the suppliers prices... they rejected lobbying for higher price caps,they insisted on Prepayment Equality with direct debit prices, from January a Standing Charge Mandate begins limiting the daily fixed fees that companies can collect and they made it illegal for companies to offer "cheap" deals to new customers that weren't also available to existing ones.

I'm sure there are more.
Re the price caps - they made reviews 3 monthly in order to bring the caps down (and put them up) more fairly.

What were they expecting to change CabbageWars13 and why exactly?

I’m a bit confused, as the government has initiated a comprehensive review of Ofgem, the calls for evidence etc. have happened, and it is reporting in Spring 2026?

Like OFWAT, OFGEM is an arm of government it can only follow government policy, if it is underfunded it cannot do its job properly.

As for energy prices, we import energy and are subject to price fluctuations, we tax energy producers, if we tax them too much they stop investing
Do we want them to invest or not?, nothing is going to improve without investment.

We cut our losses so to speak.
Used my small work pension lump sum to buy solar.
Our figures will be different to normal. We are hoping to have got the pay back from solar in 5 years.

Obviously this wont suit or be a viable option for everyone,
And who knows, it may not work out properly.

We didnt like the way energy prices may go.
We are getting to trust anything to do with government[any], less and less.

What is this thread really about CabbageWars13?
I'm confused too Casdon...

It was another attempt to have a go at the government in general and KS in particular 🥱

I don’t think anyone needs to have a go at him. He does it all by himself.

What has he done in this case, nanna8?

Prices tend rise in winter as wholesale prices rise to reflect increased cold weather demand. It’s how capitalism and inflation works.

From 1 January 2026, the energy price cap (EPC) will rise by a tiny 0.2% or £3 a year - increased electricity prices outweighing the reduction in gas prices.

The EPC number - £1755 rising to £1758 for people on a standard price capped tariff who pay by monthly dirct debit - is just a guide based on an average family in an average 2-3 bedroomed house using 2,700 kilowatt hours of electricity, 11,500 kilowatt of gas a year.

It doesn’t mean that is what you will pay as you may use more or less energy than that and tariffs vary.

The EPC just puts a cap on the unit prices and standing charges that suppliers can charge. Some keep their standard EPC tariff below that. Octopus do.

MSE Martin Lewis regularly advises people to get off the EPC and fix.

From April 2026, most people should see their bills reduce in response to the removal of green levies. Most but not all suppliers are passing on the savings to customers whichever tariff they are on.

The EPC in 1 January 2023 was £4,059, 1 January 2024 £1,928, 1 January 2025, £1,738 and £1755 from Thursday so an annual trend down but just a 6 pence a week increase for that average dual fuel user from 1 January 2026.

MSE predicts prices will reduce by 7% from 1 April 2026 with an EPC of £1,644.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/what-is-the-energy-price-cap/